Washington, DC — A bipartisan bill targeting meth breezed through the U-S Senate Monday night that was co-sponsored by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and California Democrat Dianne Feinstein.
Grassley, a Republican, says the bill aims to bring better help to addicts and greater punishment for dealers.
Grassley says the legislation, called the Methamphetamine Response Act, aims to fight addiction in rural communities and beef up the government’s ability to fight the drug.
Opioids and fentanyl are getting a lot of national attention, according to Grassley, because those highly addictive substances are “flooding across the Southern border” and they keep evolving to stay ahead of law enforcement. While opioids are a big worry, he says meth is also a primary concern.
A state report found the number of overdose deaths in Iowa in 2020 from opioids, like fentanyl, and stimulants such as meth, hit a record high of 369. That death rate is up almost 18-percent from the previous year.
