Dallas County authorized $2 million in spending on Tuesday for treatments for substance abuse addicts.
During its October 3 meeting, the Dallas County Commissioners Court approved a five-year agreement to use grant funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to treat “criminal justice-involved individuals participating in a specialty court” who are addicted to illicit substances.
Dallas County will receive $400,000 annually from SAMHSA for this purpose, which will total $2 million over the five-year duration of the agreement. SAMHSA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; thus, its funding comes largely from the American taxpayer.
Commissioner John Wiley Price said the county must employ specific criteria to determine how the funding will be spent.
“Regardless of which way this money flows, we need to see metrics,” he said.
County staff told commissioners that metrics would be presented to the court before any funds were allocated. The Dallas Express contacted Commissioner Price to ask for more information about said metrics but received no response by press time.
The county claims such funds would allow it to better support those struggling with addiction in minority communities and provide treatment to jail inmates amid an ongoing jail population crisis, which The Dallas Express has covered.
However, the county has utilized the same funding for the past five years, having accepted a similar grant from SAMHSA in 2018.
“Minorities disproportionally fail out of specialty court programs compared to their Caucasian counterparts,” reads a county document from Tuesday’s meeting. “New curriculum and research indicate different approaches and culturally competent interventions are required to ensure those who have historically experienced sustained discrimination or reduced social opportunities, receive the same opportunities as others to succeed in specialty courts.”
The measure aims to reduce recidivism among offenders with substance abuse disorders by providing “structured, supervised substance use disorder treatment along with intensive case management and interventions.”
“The program recognizes the need for treatment, instead of incarceration, for individuals with substance use disorder. This award provides a continuum of care, including prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services, for individuals with substance use disorder involved in specialty courts,” the document states.
Services have been rendered through Nexus Recovery Center and Homeward Bound, Inc. Program participants have been receiving 45 days of recommended treatment and “needed complementary support services,” according to the document.
