Sen. Grassley Works to Curb Meth Use
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (CBS2/FOX28) — Meth has been called one of the most dangerous drugs, and with 1.2 million admitted users in the United States, experts believe the danger is real. Here in Iowa, the numbers are down, but experts said the drug still poses a real danger, so much so that one senator said something has to be done to keep our citizens safe. People who have been involved with the drug, like Stephanie Beliel, said it was one of the strongest drugs she’d tried. “I’ve tried numerous times to quit meth and for some reason it just kept pulling me back,” Beliel said. Right now, she’s 76 days sober, but she said it’s been a long journey. “Terrible childhood of drugs and alcohol and abuse that led into me making those same choices,” Beliel said. “I was doing marijuana, meth, I had a couple years of crack cocaine in there and throughout all of it with prescription drugs.” She said she wasn’t the only one affected by the drug. “I had my youngest two removed from me by DHS,” Beliel said. “It’s pretty detrimental, I think. It’s one of the worst ones that I’ve dealt with.” “Meth destroys lives,” Chief Wayne Jerman of the Cedar Rapids Police Department said. “It destroys families.” Jerman attended Senator Chuck Grassley’s hearing on the ongoing meth problems in Iowa on Tuesday. Cedar Rapids has seen some of the effects, so far this year; police have busted more than 50 meth labs. “To have the attention of Senator Grassley is huge because he’s recognizing that Iowa does have a problem,” Jerman said. During a phone interview, Grassley said we have to stop the problem where it starts, across the border in Mexico. “Border security, like we talk about for immigration would also be very successful in keeping the issue out,” Grassley said. “You’re not gonna have just one program that’s gonna stop this.” Grassley said he hopes to get more action from local, state and federal levels when it comes to meth transportation across the border.
