$20 Million Available for Adult Drug Courts

Projects aimed at creating comprehensive support systems for adult drug courts can apply for a share of $20 million in funding from the Justice Department and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

“The purpose of this program is to expand and/or enhance substance abuse treatment services in 'problem solving' courts which use the treatment drug court model in order to provide alcohol and drug treatment, recovery support services supporting substance abuse treatment, screening, assessment, case management, and program coordination to adult defendants/offenders,” according to the funding announcement.

A mix of funding from SAMHSA and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) will be available to applicants who submit comprehensive strategies to enhance drug-court capacity. SAMHSA will fund the treatment portion of the grant while BJA will fund drug-court operations.

Up to 31 grants will be awarded. Each grantee will initially receive up to $325,000 in treatment funding and up to $300,000 from BJA. SAMHSA will then award up to $325,000 annually for the next two years to support ongoing treatment services.

Application deadline is March 16, 2010. Only existing misdemeanor or felony adult drug courts or the government entities that run them may apply. For more details, see the full grant announcement online.