The Crawford-Marion Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services was recently notified that they are the recipient of a grant from the U.S. Office of Justice Programs at the Department of Justice. The grant is a Category 1 Implementation grant for Drug Courts that was submitted in partnership with the Marion County Court of Common Pleas and Marion Area Counseling Center.
Judge Jim Slagle started a drug court in 2013 and this grant seeks to double the size of that docket. The drug court is known as FIRST (Facilitating Intervention Regarding Substance Treatment) Court. This initiative works with both pre- and post-adjudication participants from both the City of Marion and surrounding rural areas.
The total federal amount requested for the 36 month grant period is $349,956 and will serve approximately 30 individuals each year. Participants will meet the following offender criteria: Marion county resident, willingness to comply with program requirements and fully participate in treatment, no physical or mental health issues which would prevent participation in the program, high risk offender as assessed by ORAS, diagnosed as drug dependent and in need of an intensive outpatient program.
The structure of FIRST Court includes the ten key components of a drug court. All of the seven evidence-based program principles will be implemented in the FIRST Court program. In addition to the drug treatment, the grant will support an additional staff person for the court as well as drug testing. Evaluation for the project will be provided by Margaret C. Baughman Sladky Ph.D., a Senior Research Associate with the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences Case Western Reserve University.
ADAMH Board director Jody Demo-Hodgins notes, “We are excited to receive this grant from the Department of Justice and look forward to continuing our partnership with Judge Slagle and his court.” She further stated that this is one of only 15 such grants awarded across the country for this year.
“Drug courts have been used across the country to help increase public safety by holding offenders accountable and ensuring they are participating in treatment. The expansion of our drug court program will be one more tool to attack our local drug problem,” Slagle stated.
The ADAMH Board is the statutory authority for mental health and substance abuse treatment and prevention in both Marion and Crawford Counties.
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