Elder Backman Named to White House Drug Panel

Washington, D.C.—Elder Robert L. Backman, a member of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy, has been appointed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan to be a conferee to the White House Conference for a Drug-Free America.

Elder Backman was selected because of his experience in working with youth, and because of his and the Church’s commitment to combating drug abuse, according to Lois Haight Herrington, conference chairman.

“The conference has a broad mandate to review and critically assess all areas of the drug abuse crisis in the U.S.,” Mrs. Herrington said. “It will bring together knowledgeable individuals from the public and private sectors who are concerned with drug abuse prevention and the trafficking and distribution of illicit drugs.”

A series of regional forums was recently hosted by the conference in several major U.S. cities, where methods of curbing drug abuse were discussed.

The national conference, scheduled February 28 through March 3 in Washington, D.C., will study the findings of the regional forums and recommend new ways to combat drug abuse in the United States. These findings and recommendations will be reported to President Reagan and the U.S. Congress.