(Washington D.C.)- U.S. Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) today announced that the Drug Free Communities Act, which was created with bipartisan support in 1997, has been reauthorized. Passed earlier this year by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate tonight cleared the measure for the President's signature. Levin was the original co-author of the legislation that established the Drug Free Communities program in 1997.

"Since the very beginning, this program has illustrated how community leaders working together can bring about tremendous results in substance abuse prevention," said Levin. "The authorization of $109 million for FY 2008 is leaps and bounds above the original $10 million at the start of the program in 1998. The progress of this important anti-drug program continues to impress and its success is evident in the hard work of these coalitions across the country."

The Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization bill reauthorizes the Drug Free Communities (DFC) program, which is charged with the task of supporting local anti-drug prevention efforts. The reauthorization boosts funding from $99 million in FY2007 to $109 million in FY2008. In addition, the funding increases by $5 million per year until it hits $129 million in FY2012. Individual grants are raised from $100,000 to $125,000 per year. Programs like the Macomb County Prevention Coalition, the Southeast Oakland Coalition, and the Troy Community Coalition, have benefited from this anti-drug program. 

The Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997 was created with bipartisan support, which currently supports over 700 community coalitions and after seven years of operation has awarded close to $440 million to support local anti-drug prevention efforts and has supported over 1200 grants to date. The program provides grants of up to $500,000 over five years to community organizations that serve as catalysts for citizen participation in local drug prevention efforts. For more information on this program, visit: http://drugfreecommunities.samhsa.gov or www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov.
 

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