State Reps. Rants and Horbach Soft on Meth
by Jon Gaskell, Pointblank Des Moines
Iowa
House Speaker Christopher Rants (R-Woodbury) and Rep. Lance Horbach (R-Tama) worry that meth makers' civil liberties will be violated if Iowa requires
ID to purchase the main ingredient used to make the devastating drug.
In Iowa,
where…80 percent of all state residents support moving all sales of
meth's main ingredient into pharmacies and under the microscope, it's
meeting some resistance with a handful of lawmakers. Their chief concern, they insist, is our civil liberties being trashed.
They find the idea of making people who are purchasing something that
has helped to addict and imprison tens of thousands of individuals show
I.D. or fill out a form to be, of all things, unlawful.
Never
mind that debates at the capitol so far this session have included
discussions regarding the designation of special habitual drunk-driver
license plates and a proposal to ban gay marriage, the last thing these
lawmakers would ever want to happen is our civil liberties being messed
with.
Arkansas and Oklahoma cut off the supply to anyone who wasn't interested in jumping through a few hoops. It worked wonders.
They are obviously grasping at straws. And it's pathetically transparent.
I mean
how can one not be on board regarding legislation that will essentially
force people to kick the habit or move elsewhere, begin the process of
clearing some space in our prisons and jails and go a long way toward
nipping in the bud what is slowly but surely becoming a major public
health issue as more and more infants are born addicted to this
dangerous drug? If you have half a brain and are not merely bowing to
the people who line your campaign war chest, you cannot.
Still
we're forced to listen to the likes of State Rep. Lance Horbach
[R-Tama], who points out that meth heads will still find
pseudoephedrine at pharmacies and on the Internet (Essentially making
his argument: “Why fight it?”), as well as Speaker of the House Chris
Rants [R-Woodbury], an allergy sufferer who also happily picks up
checks from pseudoephedrine manufacturers and grocery store and
convenience store representatives. Rants remains undecided on whether
or not he will get behind the push to cut off pseudoephedrine, as he
doesn't want the state to go “overboard.”
(Click here to read the complete article.)
Visit KCI: The Anti-meth Site (formerly known as Koch Crime Institute)
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