This episode of the Justice Today podcast discusses programs funded through the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP).
This episode of the Justice Today podcast features Brad Carlyon, county prosecutor of Navajo County, Arizona, who discusses how funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance through the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) helps residents of the county jail recover from substance abuse. In September, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) joins with partners nationwide to uplift Recovery Month through COSSUP, which provides financial and technical assistance to states, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments. The purpose of the grants is to help local governments develop, implement, or expand comprehensive efforts to identify, respond to, treat, and support those impacted by illicit opioids, stimulants, and other drugs. In Navajo County, Arizona, county prosecutor Carlyon uses COSSUP funds to reach those struggling with substance use when they enter the county jail. Justice diversion programs like the one in Navajo County provide an alternative to incarceration for people with mental health and substance use conditions. These programs intend to address the health and well-being of individuals instead of punishing them for exhibiting symptoms of their disease. One BJA program, Reaching Rural, is creating a peer support network that would start in the jail with peers, where they can make those connections with substance users in the jails and then, as they're released to the behavioral health program, continue that peer support to help them along their path to recovery.