Fran Flener is the former Arkansas Drug Director. She was appointed to the position by Governor Mike Beebe in 2007. As Drug Director, Ms. Flener served as Chair of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Coordinating Council, which oversaw all planning, budgeting, and implementation of expenditures of state and federal funds used for alcohol and drug education, prevention, treatment, and law enforcement. She ensured that state drug policy was well-coordinated and developed programs to advance the effectiveness of Arkansas’s efforts to combat the burdens arising from substance abuse. She worked closely with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and planed and implemented federal drug initiatives in Arkansas.
Ms. Flener serves as a member of CADCA’s Board of Directors, and as the board member representing the substance abuse treatment community nationwide for the National Methamphetamine Pharmaceuticals Initiative. In 2009, after advocacy which led to Arkansas’s inclusion, she was elected to the Executive Board of the Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (GCHIDTA), whose mission is to target, disrupt and eliminate drug trafficking organizations.
Additionally, she serves as a steering committee member of the Arkansas Alliance for Drug-Endangered Children, and is a member of the Arkansas Legislative Task Forces on Substance Abuse Treatment and Prevention, the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Advisory Committee, and on numerous other decision-making bodies for state agencies and projects. Ms. Flener has built a coalition of over three hundred federal, state, local, and private agencies to address prescription abuse challenges in Arkansas.
Ms. Flener holds a Master of Science in Health and Bachelor of Science in Education degrees from Western Kentucky University. She has twice testified for the U. S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. In 2010, Ms. Flener was honored with the Arkansas Prevention Certification Board’s Prevention Ambassador of the Year award. In 2013, she received Out of the Dark, Inc.’s Humanitarian Award for her efforts in addressing state substance abuse and addiction challenges. She is a Certified Arkansas Law Enforcement Instructor in the specialty area of substance abuse.
