Montana Attorney General Tim Fox is continuing the effort along with other state leaders to address the problem of substance abuse in the state, with the next step in his AID Montana program, listening sessions around the state.

"We asked the Montana Healthcare Foundation to put a plan together so that we can gather information to fully understand what works and what doesn't work, where are the goals in things like prevention, education, early intervention, treatment and counseling," Fox said. "We'll be holding listening sessions across the state, and the first one will be this Friday in Butte, from 10 to 3 at the Comfort Inn on Harrison Avenue."

Fox outlined other listening sessions throughout the summer.

"On June 22nd, we'll be in Kalispell," he said. "We'll be in Billings on July 20th, Havre on the 21st of July. Then, we'll have a summit this fall where we'll bring stakeholders, professionals and others together to talk about this issues and how we can do a better job. Our plan is to have a blueprint to hand to the 2019 Montana Legislature, to give them all the sufficient information, so that we can address this problem through new or amended laws to work on the problem."

Fox tied the effort of AID Montana to why he has chosen not to run for the U.S. Senate in 2018.

"I've been fortunate in the last four years to work with folks both in and out of the Department of Justice to make a really positive impact on our state," he said. "Of course, Missoula County has seen a lot of the work that we've done in the area of sexual assault. I would say, at its core, I was elected to be Attorney General and then reelected and we have a lot of work to do in our agency to really make a difference. So, I Iook forward to the next three and a half years of finding ways to help make Montana a better and safer place."

The AID program is an acronym for 'Addressing the Impact of Drugs'.

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