NASHVILLE (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam on Thursday announced a coordinated plan to fight drug abuse, gangs and domestic violence in Tennessee.

The plan was produced over the course of a year by representatives of 11 state agencies to reduce drug abuse and trafficking, lower violent crime and cut the rate of repeat offenders.

"While we've seen an improvement, Tennessee continues to have a violent crime rate that's above the national average and that none of us find acceptable," Haslam said at a news conference at the state Capitol.

Haslam said several of the measures will require approval in the upcoming legislative session while others, like a new methamphetamine public awareness campaign, have already been started or can be implemented without new laws.

Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons said the administration will also propose legislation calling for longer sentences for gang-related crimes and gun possession by violent felons.

< P>"Much of our serious crime is gang-related, and crimes committed by groups are inherently more dangerous," said Gibbons, a former Memphis prosecutor.

The administration is proposing longer sentences for assaults, robberies and murders committed by groups of three or more people. Gibbons said it would cost the state an estimated $6 million per year, which will be included in the governor's budget proposal later this month.

The project also wants mandatory sentences of at least 45 days for people convicted of domestic violence for a second time, and 120 days for every subsequent conviction.

Another component would revamp supervision of those on probation, parole and community corrections.

The plan would also divert more non-violent drug users into drug treatment courts instead of sending them to state jails and prisons. That move would ultimately save the state about $4 million a year, Gibbons said.

Several of the plan's 40 action steps focus on stemming illegal drugs. The plan proposes to improve the prescription drug database to better identify abusers and create a real-time database to track purchases of pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient for making meth.

Mental Health Commissioner Doug Varney said doctors will be urged to check the database before prescribing controlled narcotics to better prevent doctor-shopping.

"We really want our health care profession to start policing and addressing itself, and really step up to the plate with good clinical practice to help up deal what we know is the most common source in these prescription drug abuse situations," he said.

Law enforcement would also be given access to the prescription drug database in ongoing investigations, Varney said.