The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has reported methamphetamine as the fastest growing drug threat in America. In Arizona, methamphetamine is inexpensive and readily available, thereby contributing to a host of environmental, economic and social problems. Methamphetamine affects many arenas, including child welfare, law enforcement, education, health, the judicial and criminal justice systems, and business and local communities. In an effort to combat the broad spectrum of effects suffered by families and communities, law enforcement, prevention, addiction, treatment, and recovery resources are straining to address the magnitude of this problem.
Arizona is taking a proactive approach to mobilizing county, tribal, and state efforts. The Governor’s Methamphetamine Task Force was created in August 2006 in response to Arizona’s decade-long increase in the number of individuals regularly using methamphetamine and the resulting increases in the social and economic costs borne by our state and its communities. The Task Force was instructed to approach Arizona’s methamphetamine problem holistically, focusing equally on enforcement, prevention, and treatment. Specifically, the Task Force was charged with identifying specific, action-oriented recommendations to eradicate methamphetamine use in Arizona and build safe and healthy communities throughout the state.
In January 2007, the Task Force convened more than 400 professionals, program and policy experts, and community leaders from across the state to develop recommendations for effectively confronting Arizona’s methamphetamine crisis. Utilizing the input from the participants of this summit, the Task Force formulated ten priority recommendations for the state and an accompanying action plan to implement the recommendations. The recommendations are based on a multi-system approach in which all relevant assets, agencies, and personnel are involved in addressing the crisis from all sides. In May 2007, the Task Force released the ten recommendations in A Plan for Action: Addressing the Methamphetamine Crisis in Arizona.
Each priority recommendation in the Plan for Action is accompanied by a clear and focused set of action steps. The action steps are strategic – that is, they are aimed at creating systematic changes in the way that Arizona addresses its methamphetamine problem so that the plan’s objectives are realized. In keeping with the multi-sector nature of the plan, more than a dozen agencies have responsibility for overseeing and implementing the action steps. The Task Force ensures that each action step is oriented toward measurable outcomes. It is our hope that by coordinating planning efforts at the state level, we will encourage a coordinated effort by state and local agencies providing services to those institutions, communities, families and individuals impacted by the use, production, and sales of methamphetamine in Arizona.
The Task Force released the Arizona Methamphetamine Task Force Progress Report: August 2008 to make our progress in the battle against methamphetamine transparent to the citizens of Arizona. This Progress Report shows that the Task Force has been responsive to its initial charge and has made significant strides in addressing the recommendations outlined in the Plan for Action. We have achieved tangible outcomes and have created an infrastructure that will continue to respond to this specific drug threat. The Task Force Progress Report serves as a recommitment by the Task Force to continue its momentum, keeping Arizona poised to address the state’s methamphetamine crisis.
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