Iowa Laws and Programs

Types of Drugs Used

[Page 415]Marijuana is believed to be the most widely used illegal drug in Iowa and recently law enforcement officials have reported that the potency of available marijuana has increased. Powder cocaine is readily available throughout the state but heroin is primarily confined to the eastern part of the state. Although methamphetamine is transported from Mexico in crystal or “ice” form, meth production in local labs is on the rise (201 meth labs were seized in 2009, versus 74 in 2007, although both are a substantial decrease from the 1,472 seized in 2004). The destructiveness of methamphetamine on the small Iowa town of Oelwein is the subject of Nick Reding's Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town.

MDMA (ecstasy) is the primary club drug of abuse in Iowa. Diverted prescription drugs continue to be a problem, with the main drugs of abuse being hydrodocone and oxycodone products (e.g., Vicodin and OxyContin) as well as codeine and benzodiazepines including alprazolam (Xanax). In fiscal year (FY) 2009 about a third of federally sentenced defendants in Iowa had a drug offense, with 50.9 percent of these involving methamphetamine, 27.8 percent crack cocaine, and 12.8 percent marijuana.

In 2006–07, 7.32 percent of Iowans age 12 and older reporting using marijuana in the past year, and 3.84 percent in the last month. Other than marijuana, the most common drugs of abuse reported were nonmedical use of pain relievers (3.88 percent in previous year) and cocaine use (1.78 percent in previous year). Marijuana was also the most common drug of abuse reported by Iowa high school students in a 2007 survey: 24.0 percent reporting lifetime use (including 4.4 percent reporting use before age 13) and 11.5 percent current use. Next most common was inhalants, with 9.8 percent lifetime use, followed by cocaine (5.2 percent lifetime use), and methamphetamine (3.6 percent lifetime use).

Laws Related to Drug Use

Possession of any amount of marijuana is a misdemeanor in Iowa with penalties ranging from 6 months to two years' incarceration and fines from $500 to $5,000. Sale of any amount of marijuana is a felony with sentences ranging from five to 50 years with mandatory minimum sentence of five years for selling to a minor and 10 years for selling within 1,000 feet of a school or park. There is zero tolerance for drugged driving, meaning that a driver is in violation if they have detectable levels of an illicit drug or its metabolites in their body.

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