Blueprint for the States

In January 2006, Join Together, a national substance abuse treatment advocacy organization that is part of the Boston University School of Public Health, convened a panel to investigate the role of state government in improving substance abuse treatment and prevention. The result of the panel meetings has been compiled in a report, entitled The Blueprint for the States (Blueprint).

The Blueprint is a set of recommendations for lawmakers and state or national level addiction treatment stakeholders to address treatment of alcohol and other drugs in communities. The comprehensive suggestions recognize that each state has a unique organizational structure from which policy development, and resulting state funding and practices flow. The Blueprint provides suggestions for creating organizational structures that foster leadership, effective policy development and collaboration, best clinical practices, and appropriate funding to fully address the scale of each state's substance abuse disorder and prevention challenges. The report panel members, authors, and Join Together have presented the findings at meetings of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, the State Associations of Addiction Services, and the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The Blueprint panel recommended that states:

• Develop a statewide strategy that includes all agencies affected by drug and alcohol problems
   
• Increase accountability for all state agencies working on issues related to addiction
   
• Educate lawmakers about the costs of alcohol and other drug addiction to improve their participation in policymaking
   
• Train judges to address alcohol and other drug use among defendants and improve coordination with treatment services
   
• Create a state alcohol and other drug policy advisory board, answerable to the governor and lawmakers, that includes representatives from the recovering community and civic leaders

The Blueprint for the States was written by David L. Rosenbloom, Roberta Ganson Leis, Payal Shah, and Robert Ambrogi, and published June 2006 by Join Together with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.