The Master Plan legislation created a new Division 10.6 in the California Health and Safety Code, providing the framework for greater coordination and collaboration among public and private agencies, organizations, groups, and individuals working throughout the community to reduce the negative consequences of alcohol and other drug problems in society.

     At the state level, the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs (DADP) was charged with spearheading an effort to review the programs, services, and activities of the several agencies that work to reduce alcohol and other drug problems on a statewide basis. DADP was also tasked with providing leadership and direction to California's counties, which were eligible to apply for funds to conduct Master Plan efforts at the local level.

     Four major systems - - Health, Social Services, Education, and Criminal Justice - - experience the consequences of alcohol and other drug problems and are charged with finding and implementing solutions. These systems provide a natural framework for conducting Master Plan activities. Nine strategies - - Public Policy, Evaluation, Planning, Prevention, Research, Intervention, Recovery, Treatment, and Enforcement - - are the vehicles by which the four systems respond to alcohol and other drug problems. These strategies provide the means for organizing the programs, services, and activities in which the four systems are engaged in reducing problems.

     San Mateo County applied for and was awarded funding to conduct Master Plan activities, and entered the process as a Phase IV County, with a report due date of December 31, 1991. Because San Mateo County is an AB 2904 demonstration county, with a combined Alcohol and Drug Program, considerable coordination had already occurred, including a combined Drug and Alcohol Advisory

     The San Mateo County Alcohol and Drug Program had contracted with an independent consultant in 1989, and the report, An Assessment of Alcohol and Drug Problems in San Mateo County, offers considerable insight into the extent of alcohol and other drug problems throughout all systems and among multicultural groups. The County's Community Information Services regularly updates its computer data base health and human services resources directory, a model in the Bay Area utilized by several counties. The Alcohol and Drug Services Directory, San Mateo County, September 1991, is a recent update completed by Community Information Services and the County Alcohol and Drug, Program. Thus, although work on the Master Plan did not begin until May 1, 1991, the project was enthusiastically undertaken because there had been a significant head start in a number of areas, most notably (1) needs assessment and (2) inventory of programs, services, and activities.