Last week, the Kelley Drye State AG team attended the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) Attorney General Symposium. The panels included a number of topics of importance to state attorneys general including cell phone jamming in prisons, social engineering or "pig butchering" scams, human trafficking, youth and young adult mental health especially pertaining to student athletes, cannabis legislative trends and enforcement, and disaster preparedness and response. In addition, below we've highlighted some of the other topics discussed by AGs.
Collaboration and Partnership
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti kicked off the conference with a welcome to his state and noted that these conferences are one of the places where AGs can work together, "how it should be." New Hampshire Attorney General and current NAAG president John Formella echoed the sentiment and raised the importance of partnerships between the public and private sector. He encouraged the audience to consider the priorities of AGs and explore potential partnership opportunities. AG Formella said these conferences are the best place for such relationships to take root. He also commented that just because the AGs have a dispute with a company does not mean there aren't still opportunities to work together on important issues.
Attorney General Formella described the theme of the conference as "communication, collaboration, and partnership." He stated that many issues of today could be resolved if we "sit down and talk to each other." He encouraged the audience to get to know people beyond their own political party.
Presidential Initiative
Attorney General Formella continued his theme of partnership with his Presidential Initiative panel entitled Reimagining Solutions: Uniting Forces and Leveraging Innovative Partnerships to Combat Substance Abuse and Drug Trafficking. AG Formella explained that his Initiative is intended to pay homage to the great work AGs have done in the past 10 years related to opioid litigation, as they stepped in after perceiving the federal government was not doing enough. He explained AGs brought the issue to the forefront and held companies accountable, bringing resources back to the states to address the opioid crisis. AG Formella described this as an example of the type of bipartisan collaboration that is the theme of NAAG and the AG community. However, he pointed out there is a lot of work left to be done in the substance abuse space, and it would be a mistake to think that the AGs should move on. He mentioned there are many parties involved in addressing the problem, including the private sector, health and human services, social services, and prison systems. He noted that silos sometimes develop in areas such as treatment and recovery, prevention, and law enforcement. General Formella intends to continue building bridges between sectors and considering how states can enhance partnerships.
AG Formella highlighted several areas for continued work, including:
- Cannabis. He said it is more potent than before and different formulations are creating a "whack-a-mole" approach as manufacturers try to get around state laws.
- Reversal Drugs. While there are reversal drugs for opioids, there are not yet for cocaine, meth, and other drugs, stated AG Formella.
- Prevention and Education. Prevention and education has to stay at the cutting edge because we don't know what the next hot drug will be on the market, he explained.
AG Formella expressed hopes that the AGs can be a central hub and convenor to break down silos to address these issues.
Based on our years of experience working for AGs, some of our ideas of how the private sector may be able to help with AG efforts include:
- Offering data analytics
- Providing educational materials or presentations
- Addressing products sold on online or brick and mortar markets
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