TEAM TO STUDY STATE'S DRUG ENFORCEMENT, TREATMENT, EDUCATION

FRANKFORT - Lt. Gov. Steve Pence, who also is justice secretary,
yesterday announced a 50-person team to spend 20 weeks assessing
Kentucky's substance abuse issues.

It is to be part of Gov. Ernie Fletcher's Statewide Drug Control
Policy Summit, Pence said in a statement.

The team includes state, local, federal and civic officials. It is to
evaluate the state's efforts in three areas: drug prevention and
education; treatment; and law enforcement, the statement said.

Attorney General Greg Stumbo is co-chairman of the law enforcement
panel, along with Cleve Gambill, deputy secretary of the Justice and
Public Safety Cabinet, the statement said.

The team is to make recommendations to Fletcher for a statewide
drug-control policy, one goal of which would be to eliminate
duplication and gaps in services.

Pence said 16 public forums are planned across the state. The $160,000
budget for the project is being paid with drug forfeiture money and a
$10,000 federal grant, Pence said.

For times and locations of the public meetings, go to
http://www.kydrugsummit.ky.gov/meeting_locations.asp