Grant helps develop drug treatment

A federal grant is helping researchers work together with drug treatment agencies to find the best way to treat drug addicts in Iowa. University of Northern Iowa sociologist Gene Lutz is one of the academic researchers working on the project. He says the idea is to find out what exact treatment problems agencies face and find the “best practices” to reach that decision.Lutz is the director of the Center for Social and Behavioral Research at UNI. He one area targeted by the project is the huge number of prisoners in Iowa who’re addicted to drugs. Drug treatment experts and researchers from the University of Iowa and others from around the state are involved in the effort.Lutz says the consortium is funded by a one-point-two million-dollar grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. He says they’ll work together on the project over the next three years.