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Local Anti-Drug Fighters Announce Five-Year Strategy
May 28, 2008 - Last October local anti-drug strategists along with many community activists held a regional drug abuse summit to find better ways of addressing drug problems in Houston and Harris County. Because of a spike in overall drug use across the nation, the Houston-Harris County region saw increases in drug use was well. As a result, local service providers, community and religious leaders, law enforcement, healthcare professionals, and many others decided to develop a long-term action plan for the region’s estimated 1 million drug users.
WHO: Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos, Council Member Peter Brown, The Houston-Harris County Office of Drug Policy (HHODP), the regional anti-drug consortium consisting of area law enforcement, faith organizations, educators, business, healthcare, criminal justice, courts, government, and neighborhood organizations.
WHAT: HHODP will release its long awaited final regional Drug Summit Report. This is a study that encompasses the degree of the drug problem throughout our community, and how we as a collective will address drug use/abuses over the next five years with a strategic action plan.
WHEN: The HHODP regional drug strategy will be released on Friday, May 29th, 9:00am, at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy (International Conference Facility), on the campus of Rice University 6100 Main St.
Key aspects of the new drug strategy include the creation of a regional drug data base to provide information about usage rates and trends, information recorded by age groups, real time data on treatment slots, arrest records, court cases, interdiction, intervention, total dollars spent on enforcement efforts, and treatment and prevention dollars.
Another aspect of the strategy calls for the design and development of a comprehensive treatment model. Develop strong advocacy for drug policy via elected and appointed officials at the local, state and federal levels of government.
Active HHODP membership includes: Mayor Bill White, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, Houston Police Department, Anthony Scott, Special Agent- in -Charge, DEA, Peter Brown Houston City Council Member, Dr. Peter J.A.Messiah, Houston ISD, Matt Feehery, CEO Memorial Hermann Prevention and Recovery Center, and many others.