This brief provides a history and overview of the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) and its Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program.
This publication by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) provides background information about COSSUP and its Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program. Originally developed as the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program (COAP) as part of the 2016 Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, the program’s inaugural purpose was to provide financial and technical assistance to states, units of local government, and American Indian tribal governments to plan, develop, and implement comprehensive efforts to identify, respond to, treat, and support those impacted by the opioid epidemic. In 2020, responding to upward trends in the misuse of other drugs and to advance efforts by the field in addressing the range of illicit substances (as well as opioids), BJA expanded and evolved COAP to COSSAP. In 2023, COSSAP transitioned to the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP). This change in title for the program was indicative of efforts to reduce the stigma related to substance use and to support impacted people in their recovery journey. COSSUP reflects the tenets that a cross-system problem requires a cross-system strategy and that these solutions are more likely to succeed when they are guided by communities themselves. The COSSUP Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program is a key resource, supporting jurisdictions in need in building and sustaining multidisciplinary public safety and public health responses to the use and misuse of illicit substances. Expertise is available to meet the specific needs and goals of respective projects by supporting a wide range of strategies. The publication provides a link to the application form to request TTA as well as a list of TTA provider agencies.