Source: Des Moines Register (IA) Copyright: 1999, The Des Moines Register. Website: http://www.dmregister.com/ Contact: 22 Jan 1999 Author: Jeff Zeleny UNITY VOWS ON METH BILL FALLING APART The resounding pledges of bipartisan unity in fighting Iowa's methamphetamine problem were falling apart Thursday, less than two weeks into the legislative session. Gov. Tom Vilsack and leaders of the Republican-controlled Iowa House both proposed tough criminal punishments aimed at controlling the state's rising meth epidemic. But Vilsack and the legislators sharply disagree over who should get a life sentence: people who make the drug, people who sell the drug to minors or both. Vilsack said Thursday the life imprisonment law should pertain to anyone who both manufactures and distributes the highly addictive drug to minors. But Republican legislative leaders say the law will work only if it can be applied to anyone selling the drug to youngsters, regardless of who manufactured it. "We've got a problem," said Rep. Chuck Larson, a Cedar Rapids Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. "The way it's drafted right now, it would render the new law useless." It is estimated that up to 90 percent of the meth supply comes from outside of Iowa. Larson said adding the manufacturing clause to the bill undermines the overall effort because relatively few people both manufacture and sell the drug to underage Iowans. Some Republican critics wondered whether Vilsack inserted the clause to appear tough while appeasing members of his own party and many state prosecutors who oppose life drug sentences in any form. Vilsack dismissed that notion. He said his proposal not only would punish drug dealers, but also would reduce the number of homemade meth labs in the state. "We're still talking about a significant number of people," Vilsack said. "We're focusing on the problem that we have some specific control over." The dispute might seem minor. But in the courtroom, where the law would ultimately play out, prosecutors say the difference would be substantial. Earlier this week, Larson introduced the life imprisonment meth bill in the House. A House committee was scheduled to discuss the proposal Thursday, but the meeting was postponed amid the confusion. It remained unclear when the bill would be debated by the full House. House Speaker Ron Corbett, R-Cedar Rapids, downplayed the dispute. "We're arguing some semantics here. We'll get through it," he said. Vilsack's aides asked Larson to delay the committee meeting until next week so they could consult with Public Safety Commissioner Penny Westfall and the state's new drug czar, Bruce Upchurch. That request, Larson said, led him to believe Vilsack would change his mind. But in an interview Thursday, Vilsack said he wants to keep his proposal as it is - to make the life sentence apply only to those who both make meth and sell it to minors. Anything else, he said, could be unconstitutional because the law applies to only one type of drug. "To essentially deal with that constitutional issue, you insert the criteria of manufacturing for two reasons," Vilsack said. "One, it relates to what is physically going on in our state. Secondly, the manufacturing of this product creates two additional hazards. It creates the explosive hazard as it's being mixed up and it creates the environmental toxic hazard as they leave." Larson disagreed that his bill would be unconstitutional. If courts need a rationale for why a separate law was written for meth, Larson said, "the sheer addictiveness" of the drug is reason enough. If Vilsack won't limit his proposal to include only meth dealers, Larson said he still intends to push the issue in the House. "The governor campaigned that people who sell meth to kids would go to prison for life," Larson said. "We want to help him with his campaign promise." Johnson County Attorney Pat White, former president of the Iowa County Attorneys Association, said he and a host of other state prosecutors disagree with the life prison punishment in any form. In theory it may sound good on the campaign trail, White said, but not in reality. "I just do not see selling meth as the equivalent of premeditated murder. It's just too punitive," White said in an interview. "It just wouldn't make sense that an 18-year-old high school senior who sells to a classmate would be sent to prison for the rest of their life." - --- MAP posted-by: Mike Gogulski