Branstad names new drug “czar”

Governor-elect Terry Branstad announced Friday that Mark Schouten will serve as the director of the Office of Drug Control in his new administration.

“I am pleased to announce Mark as the new head of the Governor's Office on Drug Control Policy,” Branstad said in a statement. “Mark's knowledge from his experience as a county attorney, his service in the Iowa Attorney General's office and his work with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Division of Narcotics Enforcement will be critically important in his new endeavor.”

Schouten - a member of the Iowa State Bar Association - served in the Iowa Attorney General's Office for five years. Before that, he was assistant ethics counsel for the Iowa Supreme Court's Board of Professional Ethics and he served as the Sioux County Attorney for 20 years.

Schouten received a bachelor of arts in economics from Iowa State University and graduated with distinction from the University of Iowa's law college.

The Governor's Office on Drug Control policy formed in 2000 and works to improve the health and safety of all Iowans by working to reduce drug use and the other related crimes.