States Need to Follow Policy Recommendations

State treatment and prevention organizations are not the only agencies whose expenses and activities are driven by the needs of individuals with substance use disorders. Agencies responsible for criminal justice, child welfare, public health, mental health, and education are all affected by these problems.

A Join Together panel led by former Governor Mike Dukakis (D. Massachusetts) and State Representative Pat George (R. Kansas) has created a Blueprint that state governments need to follow to develop effective alcohol and drug policies that will save lives, restore families and reduce crime.

The panel's key recommendation calls for making governors, state legislative leaders and chief judges personally accountable for developing and implementing a state strategy requiring all public agencies affected by alcohol and drug problems to work together in a unified strategy that promotes treatment and prevention. The panel concluded that if States continue their current approaches, they will never reduce the alcohol and drug related problems that soak up more than 13% of their total annual spending.

Learn more about the recommendations for state policies.