St. Tammany Parish Opioid Treatment & Partner Services

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) Program is the first major federal substance use disorder treatment and recovery legislation in 40 years and the most comprehensive effort to address the opioid epidemic. CARA establishes a comprehensive, coordinated, and balanced strategy through enhanced grant programs that expand prevention and education efforts while also promoting treatment and recovery. The Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based program was developed as part of the CARA legislation signed into law on July 22, 2016.

The Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based Program aims to reduce opioid abuse and the number of overdose fatalities, as well as to mitigate the impacts on crime victims. The program also supports the implementation, enhancement, and proactive use of prescription drug monitoring programs to support clinical decision making and prevent the abuse and diversion of controlled substances.

The System-level Diversion Projects category projects must demonstrate a commitment to establish effective diversion programs for offenders who abuse illicit or prescription opioids. Projects may support pretrial diversion, court-based diversion programs (other than drug courts or Veterans treatment courts), community-based supervision, corrections programs, and/or reentry programs.

St. Tammany Parish will develop an information system to analyze and track the opioid client population across justice system and health intercepts in order to reduce cases of overdose and increase treatment and recovery service access. Key partners for this project include the 22nd Judicial District Court, the Safe Haven Advisory Board, St. Tammany Parish Hospital, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office and Jail, and the District Attorney’s Office.

CA/NCF