In Washington State we have rethought our strategy and developed a plan we liken to a three-legged stool with the legs of the stool representing prevention, treatment, and law enforcement efforts. Each leg must be equal to the others if the stool is to be balanced and stable enough to bear the weight of communities’ substance abuse reduction needs. If any one leg is reduced in size, the stool becomes unstable, and unable to support the platform of substance abuse solutions. 

We cannot continue to be reactionary, moving our funding and support from one leg of the stool to another. Neither can we continue to keep shifting our support to whatever happens to be the hot-button substance of the hour. From alcohol to marijuana, methamphetamine to ecstasy—every mind-altering substance deserves equal and immediate attention. There are no quick fixes or overnight solutions to the substance abuse problem. The effort to eliminate substance abuse in our communities requires a strong commitment and long-term collaborative effort, linking government policy actions with those of community organizations and individuals.   

Sustained support for proven community and state prevention programs are a vital element for creating a state free from substance abuse. We have identified scientific-based programs that have been proven to work, and studies have shown that when we dedicate resources to funding these programs, substance abuse decreases. Yet every year, individuals, communities, even agency-sponsored substance abuse programs are forced to beg for funding to keep their programs operating. This cannot continue if our efforts to reduce substance abuse are to be effective! 

Creating and maintaining an environment that is free from substance abuse takes dedication, strategic action and perseverance. Substance abuse will never be eliminated as long as the primary focus is placed on stemming the supply without properly addressing the need to reduce demand through prevention and treatment. Unlike others, I do not advocate nor do I support removal of any funds from our treatment centers or from our law enforcement agencies to prevention or vice versa. Each of these individual elements is essential in the on-going battle. Fear of punishment still has an inhibiting effect on many people, keeping them from starting down the wrong path. It is also a hammer hanging over the head of our citizens who have been remanded into treatment programs, often preventing relapse and deeper involvement in substance abuse. However, the “legs” of treatment and law enforcement are much more widely touted, and hence more adequately funded, than prevention. 

It appears that President George W. Bush was thinking along these lines when in October of 2000, while campaigning for President, he vowed to “turn back the tide of drug abuse.” He was proposing a five-year, $2.767 billion package that included a Parent Drug Corps. This would be designed to provide $25 million over 5 years to nonprofit groups dedicated to training parents in effective drug prevention. An admirable plan, and one that can only help make the prevention “leg” of our stool stronger, and an example of the kind of government action that I feel is necessary to support prevention efforts. 

Because young people are so strongly influenced by community norms and standards, and by the examples set by parents and the other key adult role models in their lives, it will take more than targeting policies and programs toward youth to effectively reduce substance abuse. As the Washington State Governor’s Council on Substance Abuse states, “we must support approaches that create strong, positive social choices and drug-abuse free environments”. Likewise, we must provide adequate treatment and diversion programs for adults. We must provide prevention and early intervention approaches that support strong families and promote positive parenting, and we must work to stop the manufacture and flow of dangerous drugs into our communities. 

I applaud all the current and past efforts to reduce substance abuse. Every child who makes a choice to remain drug-free after participating in a school or community program, every person who comes out of a treatment program with the tools needed to fight addiction and substance abuse, every dealer and manufacturer taken into custody—these are all victories. And with commitment, perseverance and resolve, we must continue to increase the success of these efforts.  

The citizens of Washington State have a right to safe communities and lives free from the effects of substance abuse. This can only happen when government and communities begin to collectively treat prevention, enforcement and treatment as equals in their attempt to eradicate substance abuse.