Article Text
Abstract
Statement of purpose Emerging issues in public health bring opportunities to work with nontraditional partners. In November 2012, Colorado passed a constitutional amendment permitting recreational use of marijuana by adults over age 21 and a retail sales system, which regulates marijuana like alcohol. The state’s injury program became the lead for coordinating efforts on this topic. In 2013, Colorado received funding from CDC for Essentials for Childhood, a program designed to support sustainable, multi-sectorial efforts that promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. To address the growing concern over Rx drug misuse in Arizona and related consequences, the Arizona Substance Abuse Partnership (ASAP) established a multi-systemic, multi-agency collaborative approach to reduce prescription drug misuse which resulted in the Prescription Drug Reduction Initiative.
Methods/Approach The first presenter will describe the connexion between marijuana and injury prevention issues and highlight how the Colorado injury program leveraged internal and external partnerships to become the lead for the marijuana program. Partnerships included the growers’ industry, patient groups, the Governor’s office, hospital systems, local programs, and many other groups.
The second presenter will discuss Colorado’s work with the Essentials for Childhood project and utilising a collective impact approach. The discussion will focus on engaging nontraditional partners in business and philanthropy, including the challenges, lessons learned, and strategies to get these partners involved.
The third presenter will discuss Arizona’s work with the state’s interagency work group, efforts around strengthening the Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program (CSPMP) and creating clinical guidelines for emergency departments, acute and chronic pain.
Results Session attendees will learn about the experiences of state partners in engaging nontraditional partners to address emerging and important injury and violence prevention issues. Attendees will also hear about specific state approaches to addressing these emerging issues.
Conclusions Engaging in nontraditional partnerships is an important and often under-recognised way to address the burden of injury and violence systematically and strategically. Learning through the experiences of other states in engaging these partners, participants will be more equipped to expand their partnership efforts to address injury and violence prevention.
Significance and contribution to the field Partnerships are vital to accomplishing public health objectives. Through learning to engage nontraditional partners, participants will be equipped to strengthen their efforts to prevent injury and violence, particularly on emerging and critical injury and violence prevention issues.