Governors, legislative leaders and chief judges need to provide personal, continuous leadership for a statewide strategy to prevent and address alcohol and drug problems. When prevention and treatment are delegated to mid-level state agencies, states cannot successfully prevent or treat drug problems at the population level.

Ken Stark, who was Director of the Washington Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse for 18 years, was instrumental in making the state a model for addressing alcohol and other drug problems. Using state data, he made the case for confronting these issues. With his leadership, Washington established a state advisory council, developed a coordinated systems framework for the integration of services, and created a model data management system. Do you know of other good examples of state-level action on leadership? Email your stories to us.