Curbing drug abuse in Iowa: one response to a growing problem

The State of Iowa in the United States of America faced a growing drug-related problem, with cocaine abuse increasing in the cities and cannabis availability spreading to rural areas. The State also experienced a concomitant rise in crime, particularly by juveniles, which was demonstrably linked to the prevalence of illicit drugs. To counter these problems, Governor Robert Ray convened a State-wide Crime Prevention Conference, provided help to communities in organizing drug abuse prevention programmes, proposed legislation to seize illegally gained assets and allocated additional funds to law-enforcement agencies for narcotics operations. The Governor's programme included, inter alia: (a) The establishment of a "crime stoppers" hot-line, providing a toll-free telephone number for citizens to report crime anonymously; (b) The outlawing of "look-alike" drugs, i.e. pills designed to look like controlled substances (usually amphetamines) but actually containing licit substances such as caffeine; (c) The outlawing of "turkey" substances, such as baking flour and detergent, which were not themselves illegal but which dealers sold as illegal substances to test whether a purchaser might be an undercover police officer; (d) The proposal for a criminal justice improvement fund to provide money to enhance State-wide law enforcement efforts.