State substance-abuse agencies typically had the ear of governors and key policymakers at the height of the War on Drugs in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Today, however, just a handful of states retain cabinet-level agencies dedicated to alcohol and other drug treatment and prevention.

Responding to this disturbing trend, a policy panel led by former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis will begin work this week on determining which state organizational and financial structures most effectively support policies to prevent and treat substance-use problems, which affect an estimated 37 million Amerericans.

“Alcohol and drug problems involve governors and multiple government departments in each state, cost states millions each year, and have a devastating impact on families across the country," said Dukakis. "This panel of national leaders will look at the history of our current government structures for addressing these issues, examine research, listen to experts, and then recommend the most effective ways states can help the largest number of people get prevention, intervention, and treatment services for alcohol and drug problems."

The national Blueprint for the States Policy Panel, convened by Join Together, a project of the Boston University School of Public Health, will hold its first meeting in Boston Dec. 15-16. Public testimony will be heard at hearings in Santa Fe, N.M., in January 2006 and in Washington, D.C., in February 2006. Written testimony also will be collected electronically at www.jointogether.org during those months.

The panel expects to release its recommendations in June, 2006.

Since 1991, Join Together has convened eight policy panels, which have issued influential recommendations on issues such as treatment quality, discrimination, policies to reduce and prevent substance-use problems, and the role of criminal justice in alcohol and drug issues.

Join Together works to advance effective alcohol and drug policy, prevention and treatment. Major funding for Join Together is provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the Boston University School of Public Health; see www.JoinTogether.org/about for more details. For further information on the Blueprint for the States Policy Panel, contact Roberta Leis at 617-437-1500 or roberta@jointogether.org.

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Panel members are:

Chair: Michael S. Dukakis, J.D., former Governor, Massachusetts, and Democratic Nominee for President of the U.S. Since 1991, Gov. Dukakis has been a visiting professor at Northeastern University, and taught in the senior executive program for state and local managers at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University as well as at Florida Atlantic University and at the University of California at Los Angeles.

• Diana Bonta, Vice President of Public Affairs, Kaiser Permanente, Southern Region, California; former California Department of Health Services Director.
• Barbara Cimiglio, Deputy Commissioner, Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs, Vermont.
• Judge Karen Freeman-Wilson (ret), CEO, National Association of Drug Court Professionals; Chair, Indiana Governor’s Commission for Drug Free Indiana; and former Indiana Attorney General.
• Sidney L. Gardner, President of Children and Family Futures Inc.
• Pat George, Kansas House Republican Legislator.
• Patricia Kempthorne, First Lady, Idaho; Co-Chair of Governor’s Coordinating Council for Families and Children; and Leadership Committee member of Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free.
• Tom McHale, Work Family Representative for the United Auto Workers-General Motors Commercial Truck Center and Board Member of Faces and Voices of Recovery.
• Katie McQueen, M.D., Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine and University of Texas Health Science Center Houston; and Medical Director, Harris County Hospital District Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral and Treatment Program.
• Paul Roman, Distinguished Research Professor, University of Georgia; Director, Center for Research on Behavioral Health and Human Services Delivery's Institute for Behavioral Health Research.
• Ken Stark, Director, Mental-Health Transformation Project; former Director, Washington Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse.