Annual Congressional Breakfast on September 17

For Immediate Release - Alexandria, VA

Justin Cohen
Director of Public Relations
800-548-0497 x116

NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals, will hold its annual Congressional Breakfast on September 17, 2003, at 8:00am in Room 902 of the Senate Hart Office Building. Several key lawmakers and officials in the field of healthcare will speak, including:

Rep. Michael R. McNulty (D-NY)
Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)
Rep. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC)
Senator James Jeffords (I-VT)
Honorable Kurt Schmoke, Dean Howard University Law School (former Mayor of Baltimore)
Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI)
Rep. Julia M. Carson (D-IN)
Senator Joe R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE)
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)

Also at the event, the inaugural Senator Paul Wellstone Memorial Award will be bestowed to Jim Ramstad (R-MN) for his many years of leadership in addressing drug and alcohol treatment issues. Frank Naccarato, from NAADAC's New York affiliate AAPNY, will receive the Advocate of the Year Award.

Following the breakfast, attendees will engage in meetings with their Congressional representatives. September 17 is commonly recognized as National Addictions Counselor Day.

Issues important to NAADAC include parity for alcohol and drug use disorders treatment in group-health plans and repeal of the bans on financial aid to students with drug convictions, as well as on welfare and food stamp benefits to individuals convicted of a drug felony. NAADAC also is a strong voice for sufficient funding of effective treatment and prevention programs to address America's greatest public health challenge: drug and alcohol addiction.

The breakfast event follows NAADAC's annual conference, which will be held September 14-16, 2003 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. (The conference concludes with a Recovery Month Celebration at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.)

Members of the media may obtain passes to the breakfast and conference by contacting Justin Cohen, Director of Public Relations, at 800-548-0497, ext. 116.