Arizona's Criminal Justice and Treatment Improvement Project

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 statewide planning, coordination, and implementation projects are designed to support initiatives jointly planned and implemented by the State Administering Agency (SAA) responsible for directing criminal justice planning and the Single State Agency (SSA) for Substance Abuse Services. This category contains two subcategories of funding. Subcategory 4a funds the development of a coordinated plan between the SAA and SSA to assist localities in engaging and retaining offenders who abuse illicit or prescription opioids in treatment and recovery services; increase the use of diversion; and/or reduce the incidence of overdose death. Subcategory 4b enables the awardee to provide financial support to localities or a region to implement the strategies in the plan developed as part of subcategory 4a.

The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission will use grant funds to hire a criminal justice treatment coordinator and bring together representatives from partner agencies and community service agencies to create and implement the Arizona Criminal Justice and Treatment Improvement Project. The focus of this plan will be developing and implementing strategies to identify and provide treatment recovery support services to “high frequency” utilizers of multiple systems who have a history of opioid misuse and expanding diversion and alternatives to incarceration programs. Partner agencies include the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, Arizona HIDTA, the Arizona Department of Health Services, the State Department of Corrections, Department of Public Safety, Attorney General’s Office, Administrative Office of the Courts, County Attorneys, County Sheriffs, Chiefs of Police, and County and City Administration.

CA/NCF