Gomer -- What's going wrong

COURT SYSTEM CUTS: Funding cuts in the state's court system have reduced the judicial branch's work force to fewer employees than 24 years ago. Not all of the effects are bad; mediation is resolving more cases. But many jury trials and criminal cases are being pushed further and further back. In Johnson County, for example, two first-degree murder trials involving incidents from September and 2009 won't be heard until fall. The delays cause additional expenses and can fade accuracy of witnesses' memories. That doesn't serve justice well.

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FAKE IS WORSE: Increasingly, synthetic marijuana is being disguised within various products, such as potpourri, and sold at retail outlets. The stuff is several times more potent than the THC in marijuana. It's difficult to detect; police have no effective field test, which delays analysis.

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METH MADNESS: Up to one-third of hospitals' burn patients in Iowa and other states with substantial levels of illegal meth-making are people who concoct this deadly drug in small bottles that can explode with only minor processing errors. Most such patients are uninsured, so treatment costs wind up in taxpayers' laps.