Substance Abuse Alternatives: Ten Recommendations for Action in 2004

1. Remove the “exclusion” from state employee health insurance that voids coverage for substance abuse treatment when it is “court directed” by any state court, including the drug court;

2. Provide parity for substance abuse and mental health coverage in insurance plans by implementing HB 100, and specifically fund the cost of parity in employee health insurance coverage;

3. Pass the Governor’s Correction treatment budget recommendations of $374,900 for drug treatment at the new Women’s Work Release Center, and $500,000 for community corrections for drug treatment for probationers (relieving need for incarceration to get treatment);
  [Completed, summer of 2004!]

4. Pass SB 56 (Senators Henry, Blevins, Marshall, Peterson, Amick, Bonini, Sorenson; Representatives Hudson, Keeley) to reduce the loss of driving license for drug felony conviction from three years to one year, facilitating access to treatment and employment; 
[Completed, summer of 2004!]

5.  Resolve the pending funding crisis with the drug court’s Treatment Access Committee (TASC) by the General Assembly’s raising of court fines;

6. Add performance measure (through Joint Finance Committee action) for the TASC to provide court-ordered clinical treatment assessments to the drug court judge prior to sentencing in 95% of cases;

7. Pass SB 136 (Senators Henry, Sokola, Sorenson; Representatives George, Maier, Houghton, Viola) that would provide, on a pilot basis, drug screening and treatment for low level drug offenders taken into custody;

8. Close the treatment gap for low income citizens served by the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health;

9. Adopt (through DOC action) American Correctional Association Standards for Therapeutic Communities to ensure that all treatment community graduates in the Department of Correction (DOC) receive transitional care and aftercare; and

10. Authorize and resource the Delaware Statistical Analysis Center (DelSAC) to annually report on recidivism of released DOC offenders to monitor treatment and other programming effectiveness.