From 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., on Wednesday, October 14, Grassley will attend the town meeting and discuss his work to combat the problems of drug abuse and addiction in Iowa, specifically methamphetamine. The day-long meeting is being held at the Des Moines Marriott.
The director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse said that because of Grassley's "intensive series of town meetings" on the drug problem and his formation of the Face It Together (FIT) coalition, the first-of-its-kind statewide anti-drug coalition, the senator is "intimately aware of the challenges methamphetamine poses for health care providers, law enforcement personnel, teachers, parents, and policy makers."
Grassley worked for nearly two years to develop the Face It Together coalition. To organize the coalition, Grassley held 32 town meetings throughout Iowa and solicited ideas on how to fight drugs from parents, teachers, business leaders, community and law enforcement officials, medical professionals, clergy, and members of the media. In August, the FIT coalition released its plan of action to fight drug abuse. The plan, as well as other information about the Face It Together coalition is available at www.senate.gov/fitmain.htm.
The purpose of the NIDA meeting is to disseminate state-of-the-art scientific findings and to demonstrate how they can be used to address problems of drug abuse and addiction at the state and community level. The meeting is also being sponsored by the Governor's Alliance on Substance Abuse (GASA) and the Iowa Department of Public Health Division of Substance Abuse and Health Promotion.
