News Releases for February 2002
February 20, 2002
For further information, please Contact the Governor's Office, or
Sandi Tabor, Attorney General's Office (701) 328-4157
Hoeven, Stenehjem Launch Commission On Drug And Alcohol Abuse
Executive Order 
(173kb pdf)
Commission Members (159kb pdf)
BISMARCK, N.D. - Governor John Hoeven and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem today launched the North Dakota Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse to coordinate the state’s prevention, education and law-enforcement activities to reduce substance abuse in North Dakota.
“The Drug Court and Juvenile Drug Court programs are models of cooperation and innovation in pooling resources to reclaim lives and save taxpayers money,” Hoeven said. “In the same spirit, we are now joining forces in a concerted effort to coordinate our funding and professional resources to combat the problem of substance abuse in North Dakota.”
Hoeven said he’s committed to working with Chief Justice Gerald W. VandeWalle and the Legislature to expand Drug Court and Juvenile Drug Court programs statewide. State Supreme Court Justice Mary Maring, who has been instrumental in establishing Juvenile Drug Court, will be a member of the Commission, Hoeven said.
The commission will coordinate policies, funding and programs devoted to education, treatment, prevention and prosecution of substance abuse offenses. In addition, the commission will address victims’ concerns; impact on work performance; traffic fatalities; impact on the family; and domestic violence issues that often accompany substance abuse, Hoeven said.
“Combating substance abuse has been a high priority for our office,” Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said. “Now, law enforcement will have the benefit of sharing in a broad-based creative approach to solving a serious problem in North Dakota.”
In 2000, state agencies and offices spent more than $18 million on programs related to substance abuse, ranging from prevention and treatment efforts to law enforcement and drug interdiction, according to Hoeven.
Substance abuse, however, continues to be a growing problem in North Dakota, Hoeven said. “We need benchmarks and innovative programs if we are going to make advances against a troubling problem.”
Hoeven said State agencies, schools, health care professionals, law enforcement authorities - all have a role to play in reducing the affliction of drug and alcohol abuse in our state, especially for our children.
“It makes good sense to maximize the effectiveness of those dollars by banding together to craft a unified and coordinated strategy for combating substance abuse,” according to Hoeven.
The Commission will hold its first meeting on February 25, 2002 at 10 p.m. in the Governor’s Conference Room at the State Capitol.
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