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Siouxland CARES speaks to lawmakers

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) -- Northwest Iowa lawmakers got quite an education on the dangers of drugs and alcohol, today.

Siouxland CARES, a community coalition trying to improve lives by eliminating the abuse of alcohol and drugs-- hosted a forum, in Sioux City.

It gave local organizations the chance to show lawmakers why their programs are important.

"We know that these are very tough legislative times, very tight budgets.  We want to let them know how we are spending the money that is given to us as a coalition," said Siouxland CARES President Marti Reilly.

Reilly says they hope forums like this will encourage lawmakers to continue funding programs that have important impacts in our communities.

One of those programs is aimed a preventing tobacco use.

Since 2004 the Woodbury County Tobacco Prevention and Control grant has been used for a program called Teens Against Tobacco Use or TATU.

The program, created by the American Lung Association, trains high school students to go into elementary and middle schools to talk about the dangers of tobacco use.

"Teachers want the high school students to come back and present to their younger students.  The teachers really enjoy the program, but most importantly the kids enjoy the program too.  The high school kids and the 4th - 8th grade kids," said Siouxland District Health Tobacco Free Coordinator Alicia Sanders.

Sanders said they have had good results with the TATU program.

Surveys show that most kids recalled information from the program and of those 80 percent said the program influenced their decision to not use tobacco.