Prominent Addiction Policy Groups Merge

High profile drug addiction advocacy and public policy groups Join Together and  The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University have merged, according to a joint announcment today.

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA’s founder, is stepping down as President but will serve as Chairman of the Board. He will be replaced by Join Together’s David L. Rosenbloom who will serve as  President and CEO

Rosenblum’s statement follows:

Today I take office as President and CEO, and I look forward to working with Joe and the extraordinarily talented staff of CASA and Join Together. I thank Joe and the CASA Board for the honor, and challenge, they have given me. I promise them, and all of you who have come to trust and support Join Together, that I will continue the high standards of editorial quality, principled reporting, and evidence-driven advocacy that have been Join Together’s hallmarks.

CASA and Join Together have made major contributions to America’s understanding that addiction is a disease with huge human and monetary costs for every aspect of our society — but that it is also a preventable and treatable disease, if we act. We have given prevention and treatment leaders tools to take effective action, prodded governments to support evidence-based policies and helped individuals and families throughout the country affected by this disease. Now as a single organization, with your continued help and support, we are poised to move addiction prevention, treatment and policy into the core of American health and social policy where it needs to be.

Let me tell you about just a few upcoming events and projects:

* Later this month we will release a new CASA study detailing the enormous cost of addiction to state and federal government budgets, and offering real solutions that will save money and restore lives. Join Together will ensure wide dissemination and use of this information by updating all 50 of its state-level action pages with data and action tools.

* The CASACONFERENCESM Wounds of War: Substance Abuse, Veterans and Active Duty Military on May 20 will call the nation’s attention to how alcohol and drugs are hurting military personnel who put their lives at risk to protect us, and will offer solutions to make sure our brave servicemen and servicewomen receive all the support they need to re-establish their lives when they return home.

* Joseph A. Califano, Jr.’s new book How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid: The Straight Dope for Parents will be published on August 11th by Simon & Schuster’s Touchstone/Fireside division, CASA will release its annual Teen Survey on August 20th, and hundreds of communities will participate in Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner with Your ChildrenTM on Monday, September 28th.

* This fall we will release a significantly expanded version of AlcoholScreening.org, which more than one million people have already used to assess their own drinking. The new site will incorporate a new online Brief Intervention and will help people develop a personal plan to cut down on their risky drinking.

I want to personally invite you to learn more about other exciting CASA programs and services at www.casacolumbia.org

This is both an exciting and challenging time to merge two important groups and launch a renewed vision of excellence and growth. CASA’s and others’ research have opened the way to huge improvements in prevention and treatment, and documented the important role prevention and treatment must have in health reform.

The combined CASA and Join Together staff is the largest and most talented independent group in the country dedicated to this issue. Nevertheless, the challenges are great, and we will need your commitment to take action and lend your support more than ever as we move ahead.