Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

          I'm going to steal a little space from Joe to inform you all of an initiative for which petitions are currently being circulated in an attempt to gather enough signatures by the June deadline to qualify it for the ballot in the November election. 

          I-163 officially known as "The Montana Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Drug Free Plan Act" is meant to address the toll to our society caused by drug and alcohol abuse. This Act would create a comprehensive plan to address alcohol and drug abuse. Money to finance the programs created by the Act would come from a portion of taxes currently collected by the State on wine, beer, and liquor in the amount of approximately $6 million. This money would be shifted from the General Fund to a "state special" fund. From there 25% would go to drug treatment courts, 20% is for alcohol and drug monitoring programs, 20% is for a meth prevention program, and up to 35% would be for a grant program administered by the Montana Board of Crime Control for education, prevention, and treatment of drug and alcohol abuse.

          The MT. State Council of Professional Fire Fighters and the MT. State Firemans Association have been asked to co-sponser this Initiative with other public safety organizations. We as an E-board took this request under consideration at our May E-board meeting. We agree with the Initiative in principle, but feel since money is needed to campaign the Initiative the decision should be made by the membership at Convention. In the meantime, I would encourage you to sign the petition so that it will qualify by the June deadline.

          More information can be found by googling Montana Coalition for Drug and Alcohol Abuse.

Fraternally,

Tod Miller