[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 148 (Tuesday, December 5, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11558-S11559]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            DRUG FREE COMMUNITIES ACT SUCCESSES IN COLORADO

  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I would like to take a minute to call my 
colleagues' attention to a conference which is convening this week here 
in Washington, DC. The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America is 
sponsoring its National Leadership Forum XI from December 6-8, 2000. 
The National Leadership Forum is the largest meeting of grassroots and 
professional community coalition leaders in the country. CADCA expects 
approximately 1500 participants to participate in the Forum this year 
to network and learn about the most innovative programs, products and 
services working to reduce youth substance abuse in communities across 
the country.
  As the chairman of the Treasury and General Government Subcommittee, 
I have a keen interest in these programs which receive support through 
the Drug Free Communities Act under the Treasury subcommittee's 
jurisdiction. The Drug Free Communities Act has seen some great 
successes. This program is funded at $40 million for fiscal year 2001, 
which is $5 million more than the administration requested. This 
program provides small grants to non-profit organizations that are 
trying to curb the impact of drugs in our communities.
  One good example is in my own state of Colorado. The Drug Free 
Community

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grant recipient is called Grand Futures. This non-profit organization 
has implemented a program that attempts to directly influence the 
social behaviors that tend to lead to drug use. The basic premise is, 
if you can influence those activities that lead to or are related to 
drug use, you can impact the incidence of drug use itself.
  Grand Futures, which receives funding under the Drug Free Communities 
Act, conducts tobacco and alcohol stings. In addition, Grand Futures 
also works with local businesses regarding employee alcohol consumption 
during working hours and conducts outreach efforts regarding patrons' 
drinking and driving behavior.
  As a result of their work, Grand, Moffat and Routt counties in 
Colorado, the area which Grand Futures administers, has shown a 
significant drop in adult and juvenile violations of the state's liquor 
laws. For that same time and location, this area also experienced a 
corresponding decrease in adult and juvenile drug violations.
  I think you can see that if we focus on the contributing factors of 
drug use, we can have an impact. Also, it demonstrates that when you 
allow the state and local organizations to tackle an issue and provide 
them the resources to do so, each in its own way, they can be more 
successful in their grassroots efforts than a large Federal program 
would be. People like those working at Grand Futures live in the 
community, and they understand the local environment and the potential 
constraints that an outsider may not. This can be something as simple 
as knowing what the local past time is for teens.
  The Drug Free Communities Act demonstrates that groups like Grand 
Futures are well suited to tackle the drug problem with locally-based 
solutions tailored to address the community's unique situation. I would 
encourage my colleagues to look into their Drug Free Communities Act 
recipients in their own state. I think that they will find dedicated, 
hard-working organizations that are achieving success and deserve their 
support.

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