WASHINGTON- Senator Chuck Grassley today said that last night a resolution passed the Senate designating the week of February 10 as National Drug Prevention and Education Week. Grassley introduced the resolution with Senator Joe Biden of Delaware . Grassley and Biden serve as Co-Chairman and Chairman respectively of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control.
“I’m glad the Senate took quick action on this resolution,” Grassley said. “This resolution urges communities to engage in the dialogue that will help stop drug use before it ever starts. The more people talk about and understand the dangers of drugs, the better off we’ll be.”
National Drug Prevention and Education Week will be held February 10-16 and encourages parents, youth, schools and communities to carry out prevention and education activities to reduce and stop drug use. More than 20 years of research have demonstrated that prevention and intervention, designed and tested to reduce risk and enhance protective factors, can help children at every step along their developmental path, from early childhood into young adulthood.
In October, Biden and Grassley introduced the Dextromethorphan Abuse Reduction Act (S. 2274) to curb the alarming rise in medicine abuse, including teens’ misuse of cough and cold medicines containing Dextromethorphan (DXM). This legislation would ban the sale of DXM, and any products containing DXM, for kids under 18. Earlier last year, Grassley and Senator Dianne Feinstein of California introduced the Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act following evidence that drug dealers were making meth and other deadly street drugs more attractive to kids at younger ages by disguising and flavoring drugs to look like candy. This legislation would increase the federal penalties for drug dealers who flavor or disguise illegal drugs to make them more appealing to people under age 21. Grassley was also an original co-sponsor of the 2005 Combat Meth Act and introduced legislation last year that would strengthen the law by requiring pharmacies to keep their databases of meth precursor purchases electronically to make information sharing among pharmacies more effective in stopping meth cooks.
Grassley has also been active on curbing performance-enhancing drug use. He introduced a bill last year that would make the sale of the steroid precursor DHEA to individuals under the age of 18 a civil offense and co-sponsored another bill with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York that would make human growth hormone a schedule III controlled substance. If passed, the legislation would grant the Drug Enforcement Administration full authority to investigate and prosecute illegal manufacturing and sales of this potentially harmful substance.
In the late 1990s, Grassley launched an extensive first-of-its kind statewide initiative to address Iowa ’s drug problem at the grassroots. Called “Face It Together,” or FIT, the effort was designed to help Iowans work together to keep their schools, workplaces and communities drug-free.
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