First Judicial District Adult Drug Court Enhancement Project

The purpose of the Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program (42 U.S.C. 3797u et seq.) is to provide financial and technical assistance to states, state courts, local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments to develop and implement drug treatment courts that effectively integrate substance abuse treatment, mandatory drug testing, sanctions and incentives, and transitional services in a judicially supervised court setting with jurisdiction over nonviolent, substance-abusing offenders. The FY 2010 Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program will provide grant funds to jurisdictions to implement or enhance a local drug court or to improve, enhance, expand, or financial support drug court services statewide.

The First Judicial District Court will use the grant funds to enhance the Santa Fe Drug Court's medical and behavioral health care for participants struggling with mental illness and substance abuse issues. These enhanced services will include meeting with a psychiatrist, receiving appropriate medication, additional medical tests as individually necessary, and enhanced counseling service. The Santa Fe Drug Court will use award funds to meet the psychiatric needs of the drug court population in a more effective manner. The drug court will contract with a licensed psychiatrist to provide assessments for all clients referred to the program. The psychiatrist will provide on-going care for those clients identified with a co-occurring disorder throughout their participation in the program. On-going care will include the prescribing of medication, monitoring of medication, and a weekly appointment during the first phase of the program. The program will assist participants with the cost of pharmaceutical psychotropic medications for a period of time providing clients an opportunity to become financially able to purchase their medications or enroll in an appropriate health insurance program

CA/NCF