Grassley said the key to solving the drug problem is communities acting together, and he encouraged parents, students, teachers, youth leaders, law enforcement officials, clergy, workers, business professionals, medical experts, local government officials, concerned citizens, and the media to attend these meetings. "Facing it together is the only way we can make our families, neighborhoods, schools, and places of work drug-free," Grassley said.
Grassley's meetings are open to the public. The first meeting will be on Monday, June 29, and the last meeting will be on Wednesday, July 1. He will meet with Iowans in Fairfield, Wapello, Tipton, Clinton, and Maquoketa and discuss how narcotics have impacted the communities and how concerned citizens can fight back.
As chairman of the U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, Grassley has organized all of these events to help bring together members of the communities to talk about the increasing problem of drug use, especially by teenagers. In addition, he said the effort is intended to take aim at the expanding and destructive presence of methamphetamine in Iowa.
The five town meetings also are part of an effort Grassley began last spring to develop the first-of-its-kind statewide anti-drug coalition. The goal of the coalition is to assist individual communities in Iowa in the fight against drugs. To date, six individual task forces organized by Grassley have met and developed ideas to help local communities craft targeted strategies to fight drugs. In April, Grassley conducted a series of 16 town meetings across Iowa to gather input. He said literally thousands of individuals participated in these discussions. Information gathered from the meetings later this month will be used to further fine-tune the coalition. The final plan will be released to the public in August.
Last year, Grassley received top honors from the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) for securing passage of the Drug Free Communities Act of 1997. This Grassley- sponsored law provides for $10 million for fiscal 1998, and requests $20 million for fiscal 1999. These funds will be awarded as federal matching grants to community-based groups with a proven record of fighting drug use. Grassley said the initiative moves federal dollars already being spent for anti-drug programs in Washington, D.C., to the grassroots.
Grassley's anti-drug meetings in Iowa are scheduled as follows.
Monday, June 29, 1998
Time: 3:00-4:00 p.m.
Place: Fairfield City Library
104 West Adams Avenue
(515) 472-6551
Tuesday, June 30, 1998
Time: 12:15-1:15 p.m.
Place: Wapello Briggs Center
317 North Water
(319) 523-4091
Time: 2:45-3:45 p.m.
Place: Tipton Courthouse Basement
400 Cedar Street
(319) 886-2121
Time: 5:15-6:15 p.m.
Place: Clinton Community College
1000 Lincoln Boulevard
(319) 244-7001
Wednesday, July 1, 1998
Time: 8:30-9:30 a.m.
Place: Maquoketa Community Center
506 South Eliza
(319) 652-2215