Human Services News

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

Lawmakers and other addiction stakeholders have warmly greeted the new Blueprint for the States report prepared by a Join Together policy panel, which contains a broad set of recommendations for optimizing state governments to effectively address alcohol and other drug problems in communities.

"People have been very interested" in the report, said former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, who chaired the policy panel and was in Boston this week to present the Blueprint to a meeting of the New England Association of Drug Court Professionals.

Perhaps the overriding recommendation coming out of the Blueprint is the need for executive leadership; Dukakis and others are reaching out to state leaders through the NCSL and the National Governor's Association, as well as urging chief judges, treatment providers, consumers, and other stakeholders to call for governors and state legislators to address the issues highlighted in the report.

Michael Botticelli, assistant commissioner for substance abuse services in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, said the Blueprint recommendations reflect many of the reforms now underway in his state, including the establishment of a Governor's Interagency Council on Substance Abuse and a reallocation of resources -- previously focused mainly on treatment -- to a broad range of services, including prevention, early intervention, aftercare, and recovery support.

Join Together also has launched a campaign to raise enough money to mail hard copies of the report to legislators and governors in all 50 states; the mailing will include a call for state lawmakers to hold hearings on the panel recommendations.

At the meeting, a lawmaker from Hawaii suggested that George recruit individual members of each state legislature to distribute copies of the report to their colleagues.

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