Governor says "meth epidemic" worse than terrorist threat

Governor Tom Vilsack says the epidemic of meth use is a bigger challenge to Iowa than any terrorist threat. Vilsack signed a bill this week that he hopes will help reduce the number of meth labs in the state by restricting access to the cold medications that meth cookers need to make meth. But 80 percent of the methamphetamine that’s consumed in Iowa comes from out-of-state. “Frankly, the national government has got to do a better job of controlling the borders,” Vilsack says. “We have got to step up that part of homeland security because we have frankly much more of a risk from methamphetamine than we do from any kind of terrorists.” Meanwhile, the federal government has been reducing the amount of money it’s giving Iowa to fight the drug war. Marvin Van Haaften, a former county sheriff who’s now the state’s drug czar, says there have been “huge” cuts in federal support of regional drug-fighting task forces.”We had to take a 27 percent reduction in our drug task forces this year,” Van Haaften says. “Next year will be even worse.”