The Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP) has launched a new service called “The Connection” in hopes of spreading information more rapidly about emerging drug problems. ODCP director, Steve Lukan, says they hope to provide multiple ways to update parents, educators and others.

“Just really trying to show what potential trends might be and key identifiers of those trends so that can have an impact. They can do some work on the prevention and intervention side and really hopefully help head off some potential problems,” Lukan explains. The Connection will include a monthly newsletter and on-line updates.

Lukan says this service would have been helpful when synthetic drugs started hitting the scene. “There’s still many Iowans who don’t know much about them. In particular, parents and people in the education community didn’t know what they looked like, weren’t aware that they were out there,” Lukan says. “Unfortunately we’ve had young people in Iowa die as a result. So, our hope and our goal is that by getting information out and by linking to resources, parents and others can see signs, understand what key identifiers might be and step in and take action.”

You can view The Connection online and sign up for monthly emails at www.iowa.gov/odcp. Lukan says there’s a link displayed very prominently on the site for The Connection. Lukan says the speed and frequency with which drugs threats are evolving requires a fast response from everyone.