State’s Attorney Birkett Awards More Than $12,000 in Drug Forfeiture Grants to Local Schools

Wheaton - DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett announced today that his office has awarded thirty eight grants to fund drug prevention programs in DuPage County.   The grants were awarded to area schools and organizations through the 2006-07 State’s Attorney’s Drug Forfeiture Grant Program.  This year’s grants totaled $12,138.12 and are derived from assets forfeited from area drug dealers as a result of the diligence of prosecutors in seeking forfeitures of cash and property in those cases.

Students, school administrators and parents from throughout the County formally received their grant awards at a ceremony held at the Courthouse this morning.

“The efforts to combat substance abuse should not and can not be confined to the criminal justice system,” State’s Attorney Birkett commented. “The centerpiece of an effective drug control strategy is drug free schools.  Education, prevention and intervention are essential components of that goal.   Through the State’s Attorney’s Drug Forfeiture Grant Program, we are able to take drug dealer’s money and use it to educate and help our children learn the dangers of substance abuse at an early age, giving them positive alternatives to the devastating life of drugs.”

The Drug Forfeiture Grant Program was initiated by the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office in 1990, and since that time has provided four hundred eighteen grants to schools and organizations, serving thousands of children in DuPage County.   In that period, more than $150,000 in grants have been distributed for drug prevention efforts throughout the county.

This year, all of the thirty eight schools and organizations that applied for grants from the program, each received a grant – with a maximum award of $500.

            The grants will be used to provide financial assistance for programs such as Red Ribbon and Character Counts, provide scholarships for low income or high risk students to attend drug prevention programs as well as subsidize other drug prevention curriculum.

"The importance of these programs must never be underestimated,” Birkett noted.  “Education and awareness of these dangerous substances are our first line of defense.”

The law provides for the forfeiture of certain assets used by drug dealers or assets purchased with drug monies.   Proceeds from the sale of these assets get divided amongst all law enforcement agencies that played a role in the case (i.e. police, departments, fire departments, FBI, DEA, prosecutors, etc.)  The Narcotics Unit of the State’s Attorney’s Office is run in part with funds generated as a result of these forfeitures.  In addition, a portion of that forfeited money is used to assist in the funding of drug prevention programs through the State’s Attorney’s Drug Forfeiture Grant Program.

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