GRASSLEY IS WAGING A NEW WAR ON DRUGS

'We must get entire communities involved,' the senator says as he
travels the state.

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley announced new strategies Thursday for
fighting Iowa's growing drug problem, including using the workplace to
train adults on how to be better parents, making drug-education
materials available in doctors' offices and putting the topic of drugs
at the top of the agenda in meetings among educators.

Grassley, an Iowa Republican, traveled throughout the state to issue
the recommendations of a new anti-drug coalition called Face It
Together, which was formed to help communities organize to combat the
problem.

"Those on the front lines, those who work in the field of drug
prevention and treatment, say that we must get entire communities
involved if it's going to be solved," Grassley said at a news
conference in Des Moines.

A major part of the drug problem is the explosion of methamphetamine
trafficking and use. More people are identifying meth, with its
long-lasting, cheap high and wide availability, as their drug of
choice. Grassley noted that the state is becoming known as the
methamphetamine capital of the nation.

The anti-drug recommendations are a culmination of two years' work
among some of the state's top government, business and community
leaders. It is the involvement of these powerbrokers - they include
corporate chief executive officers, policy makers and religious
officials - that makes the coalition unlike others that have formed
across the country, authorities said.

The group surveyed Iowans at anti-drug town meetings this year and
2,000 others, including the state's mayors, to help develop its
recommendations.

About 10 percent of the state's 947 mayors responded. They
acknowledged drug problems in their communities, but many of them did
not have an anti-drug coalition working to fight abuse. So the
statewide group believes there's an opportunity to provide government
officials with help in forming coalitions.

At the news conference, 15-year old Josh Auten of Creston told of his
involvement with drugs - marijuana first, then cocaine, heroin and
acid - and how he wants to use his experience to help others.

"I looked in the mirror one day and decided I had enough of it, you
know. I looked at myself, my hair was a mess, I was wearing dirty
clothes," he said of his decision to stop using drugs. "I thought, I
don't want to do this. I want to go to college, I want to be somebody."

Don't yell if you find your children are using drugs, he
said.

"Just listen to them," he said, "try to get them help, try to convince
them to get help."

Josh Auten
With Sen. Charles Grassley

The recommendations

Here are some of the recommendations made Thursday by the Face It
Together Coalition:

* Conduct parent training in the workplace with a training
video.

* Explore opportunities for expanding the Iowa Drug
Court.

* Make drug education materials available in doctors'
offices.

* Encourage pediatricians to begin parental drug education at
well-baby visits.

* Distribute suggestions for anti-drug sermons and Sunday school
curricula.

* Identify or develop an Internet Web site to reach
children.

* Develop models for drug-free workplaces.

* Put the topic of drugs on the agendas of meetings with teachers,
superintendents and others.

* Develop a model for how law enforcement and schools can work
together.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady