Drug Court Implementation Program

The Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program is designed to assist states, state courts, local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments in developing and establishing drug courts for substance-abusing adult and juvenile offenders. Drug court programs funded by the Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program are required by law to target nonviolent offenders. The program supports the following activities: adult drug court implementation, single jurisdiction drug court enhancement, statewide drug court enhancement, and planning efforts.

The Pulaski County Adult Drug Court program will use the FY 2009 Drug Court Implementation grant to address adult participants who are post-plea, and/or re-entry and non-violent defendants who meet substance abuse treatment criteria. The program is designed as voluntary. It is estimated that 100 percent of these defendants will be substance abusers. Twenty five percent of these will experience symptoms of withdrawals and will require medical monitoring, detoxification, or maintenance services. Most substances abused include alcohol, cocaine/crack, marijuana, methamphetamine, and prescription medications, including oxycontin.

Eligible participants will be identified and referred to the program by judges, defense counsel, and probation and parole. Screenings will be conducted by probation and parole to verify that the defendants are legally eligible for the program and are not classified as violent offenders. There are three substance abuse treatment providers that will be available to the participants of the Pulaski County Adult Drug Court. Inpatient as well as outpatient services will be available to all participants. The Pulaski County Adult Drug Court program will be conducted for 14 months. It was designed in compliance with the Drug Court Key Components model. Data collection will be completed using the Office of State Courts Administrator's Treatment Court Reporting System (TCRS), which provides the information for the Missouri drug court performance measures.

CA/NCF