It’s time to shift our focus from the war abroad to the war waging in our backyards, cornfields and rural communities. It’s a war we’re losing. If just half the ink, time and space state and local newspapers devoted to covering the war on terrorism could be used to cover the war on illegal drugs, Iowa might not be known as the headquarters for meth use and production.

Congratulations! We ranked first in the seizure of methamphetamine labs per capita and third in total meth labs confiscated with 1,294 in 2003, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

Last week, two reminders jolted us back to face a reality we’re not proud of. First, Iowa law enforcement officials announced that we’ve joined a new national initiative called “Meth Watch,” in which participating stores will post conspicuous stickers on their doors, windows and shelves informing would-be meth makers that they are being scrutinized. Employees will be trained to watch for signs of conspicuous purchases and surveillance cameras will monitor customers.

Then, Sen. Tom Harkin declared that Iowa communities will receive more than $800,000 for Drug-Free Community Program grants to reduce youth substance abuse and strengthen community anti-drug coalitions. The Story County Prevention Policy Board will receive a $100,000 grant to continue its Youth and Shelter Services program which provides substance abuse curricula primarily in the rural school districts of Ballard, Collin-Maxwell and Gilbert.

Bob Kerksieck, chemical dependency services director at YSS in Ames, seemed rather skeptical about all this money when I asked him about it the other day. He chuckled and said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” He says the agency works with about 750 youth per year who seek drug rehabilitation and right now he’s got 20 kids in residential treatment, half of which are meth addicts.

Like HIV or other STDs, meth addiction isn’t isolated to the 20-something white male population. Seventh-grade girls are being told that meth will help them lose weight. Straight-A students who work part-time jobs plus do extracurricular activities are overwhelmed and told that one hit of meth will help them work through the night. A stressed out single mom who is exhausted with work, parenting, and maintaining a house is told that meth will give her the energy she needs to get everything done.

Not your stereotypical image of who drugs addicts are?

That’s how bad it’s gotten. It seems that a lot of users are lured into the meth scene not because they were excited about the drug itself, but as a means to an end. And somehow the peddler neglects to inform them that one hit is all it takes to succumb to addiction. The peddler is too anxious to make a quick buck to support his or her own addiction. And by a quick buck, that means whipping up a fresh batch of meth in 20 minutes to sell for an instant $300.

Cheap. Easy. Seductive. Deadly. The lucky ones find themselves in rehab.

What Kerksieck would like to see is all the funding that’s promised equally distributed among the three key attack strategies used down in the trenches every day: law enforcement, rehabilitation, and prevention.

“Treatment is very successful when it’s done right.” By right, he means in-patient, residential treatment for at least six months. Kerkieck says there has been a 73 percent reduction in arrests when treatment is allowed to last for at least 6 months. What always gets shortchanged, he says, is prevention.

That means the public needs a constant barrage of information and education to increase awareness. Meth’s tentacles have a grip on the entire state with almost every age group. According to research from newly formed Northeast Iowa Meth Task Force, one of every 10 infants in Iowa is born with meth exposure. Eighty-five percent of babies in foster care come with meth exposure, which implies that the mother is or was a user.

A child’s exposure to meth may not manifest itself for 10 years, and when it does, it could cause speech delay and/or behavioral problems. Teenagers are struggling with peer pressure to do meth. College students are also at risk. Taxpayers pick up the tab for treatment programs.

Until we are aware of the scope of the problem and start to care about what’s happening in our backyards, open fields, and rural communities, it will only get worse.