The office of substance use and mental health (osumh), in collaboration with the utah administrative office of the courts (AOC), is requesting funding in the amount of $1,000,000 to enhance adult drug…

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded a $1,000,000 Project Grant under the Treatment Court Discretionary Grant Program (CFDA 16.585) to the Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The grant will fund 10 adult drug courts and 1 DUI court across Utah to enhance drug court functioning, expand services, and promote racial equity. Specifically, the funding will support:

• Expanding access to evidence-based medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and other clinically appropriate practices for opioid use disorder treatment
• Implementing or expanding equity initiatives, including funding for equity managers or administrators to help eliminate racial inequities in drug court participation and outcomes
• Providing training and other support to improve drug court operations and outcomes for participants

The grant award period runs from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2027. DHHS will distribute a portion of the funding to local substance abuse authorities and other regional partners as sub-awards to deliver these services throughout Utah.

The office of substance use and mental health (osumh), in collaboration with the utah administrative office of the courts (AOC), is requesting funding in the amount of $1,000,000 to enhance adult drug court, fund training initiatives, and provide the opportunity to enhance and expand current services and promote racial equality. Osumh will provide support to local substance abuse authorities to help eliminate racial inequities; funding will be allocated to support equity managers or administrators. The purpose of this project is to improve drug court functioning and improve drug court participant outcomes. The grant will fund 10 adult drug courts and one urban/rural DUI court: cache county adult drug court (rural), box elder adult drug court (rural), SAN juan adult drug court (rural), iron county adult felony drug court (rural), weber/morgan county adult drug court (urban/rural), weber county DUI (urban), summit county adult drug court (rural), carbon county adult drug court (rural), grand county adult drug court (rural), emery county adult drug court (rural), and uintah county adult drug court (rural). All courts that requested assistance can demonstrate a specific need. In FY 2022, 1,395 were served in utahs drug courts. Drug courts across utah require a minimum of 52 weeks participation, with no maximum. Osumh will implement or expand access to clinically appropriate evidence-based practices (ebps) for opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment, particularly the use of mat and the use of FDA-approved medications (e.g., methadone, buprenorphine products including buprenorphine/naloxone combination formulations and buprenorphine nonproduct formulations, naltrexone products including extended-release and oral formulations, or implantable buprenorphine). The goal of mat is full recovery, including the ability to live a self-directed life. Currently, no other federal funds are allocated to utahs drug courts.