REGIONAL MEETINGS HELP COMMUNITIES FIGHT METH, OTHER DRUGS

NASHVILLE, TN – State officials will bring community leaders and citizens together in regional meetings this month to help them identify and access new resources to fight methamphetamine and other drugs.

“Local community involvement is key to stopping this drug’s spread, particularly in our rural communities where the problem has been most prevalent,” Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Dave Goetz said. “We want to help communities find new tools – including grant money – to further eradicate this drug from our families and communities.”

Goetz’ department includes agencies that help coordinate the state’s anti-Meth effort, created three years ago by Governor Phil Bredesen. Tennessee once ranked second in the nation in Meth lab incidents, but since the Meth-Free Tennessee Act became law, the rate of Meth seizures has been reduced by over 54 percent. Governor Bredesen expanded on the education effort last year by partnering with the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference to launch the Meth Destroys effort (www.methfreeTN.org).

The regional meetings will focus on new Byrne grant funding for community anti-drug coalitions, Learn and Serve America grants for meth prevention service-learning in afterschool programs and tools from the Meth Destroys and Partnership for a Drug Free America efforts.

The meetings schedule is:

The meetings are sponsored by the TN Commission on National and Community Service, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions Across TN, the TN Office of Criminal Justice Programs, the TN Conference of District Attorneys General, the TN Department of Education, the TN Commission on Children and Youth, the TN National Guard and the TN Department of Health.

For driving directions or more information, go to www.cadcat.org.