Standing Committee on Substance Abuse
Message from the Chair
As the incoming Chair of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Substance Abuse, I welcome you to our website. I look forward to your participation and assistance in helping us address the many problems created, enhanced or facilitated by substance abuse in our country and worldwide. Our immediate Past-Chair, Barbara J. Howard, Esq., has served our Committee in extraordinary fashion. Perhaps the most significant achievement of Ms. Howard’s tenure was the successful planning, coordinating and chairing of the Unified Family Court Summit held in conjunction with the University of Baltimore School of Law, Center for Families, Children and the Courts. Rather than "reinvent the wheel," I will steal, or directly quote her opening letter welcoming you to our website written during her term as Chair:
Since its inception in 1990, the Standing Committee has worked to curb the pervasive use and long-term effects of drug, alcohol and other forms of substance abuse on our country's population. The Standing Committee's efforts have largely been a coordinated effort, both with other ABA entities such as the Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and the Coordinating Council on Unified Family Courts, as well as with groups outside the ABA, such as the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Physicians and Lawyers for National Drug Policy, and many others.
Our efforts at both prevention and treatment have taken the form of truancy court projects across the country, of grant-funded studies on various aspects of the national substance abuse issue, and of hands-on assistance to those seeking to integrate substance abuse treatment and prevention into our national justice system. We are particularly proud of our success in the adoption of substance abuse treatment policies by the ABA House of Delegates. These include anti-discrimination policies for those in recovery who seek the assistance of public benefits, opposition to mandatory minimum sentences, and urging treatment services for all drug-dependent services for those in the criminal justice system. Once adopted by the House, the ABA's legislative counsel is able to work with national, state and local legislators, and with other bar associations in an effort to advance these ABA policies. For more information about the work of the Committee, visit the rest of our website or call 202/662-1784.
Randall M. Kessler, Chair
About the Committee
The mission of the Standing Committee on Substance Abuse is to: (1) encourage bar associations to actively develop and foster lawyer and public participation in community anti-drug coalitions as an effective means of addressing substance abuse; (2) encourage, support and initiate discussion and examination by ABA entities of exemplary methods that address substance abuse; (3) develop and implement a communications strategy to inform and educate lawyers and the public on exemplary programs which address substance abuse; and (4) make appropriate recommendations to develop and promote practices that support prevention, education and treatment of substance abuse.
To carry out this mission, the Standing Committee collaborates with other ABA entities, federal, state and local public/private organizations and state, local and territorial bar associations.
The Standing Committee was originally created in 1990 as the Special Committee on the Drug Crises to address problems and policies regarding illegal drug use. Since then, the Standing Committee has focused its efforts on programs and policies that offer long-term solutions to the nation’s drug problems, including discrimination against individuals in treatment or recovery from addiction, alternatives to incarceration, such as drug courts, treatment services for drug-dependent persons processed through the criminal justice system, treatment in lieu of criminal prosecution in appropriate cases and education, prevention and treatment programs, especially for children and young people.
Who We Are
To view a list of our Committee Members, please click here.
What's New
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The Standing Committee on Substance Abuse is a cosponsor of "A Call to Action For Juvenile Justice" in collaboration with the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section on November 6, 2008 in Washington, DC. Just two days after the 2008 Presidential Election the American Bar Association’s Juvenile Justice Committee of the Criminal Justice Section will host a Town Hall meeting in Washington, DC, inviting representatives from the new administration along with other lawmakers. Committee co-chair, Professor Charles Ogletree from Harvard Law School will moderate the discussion. The meeting will provide the new administration with a bi-partisan juvenile justice plan of action.
- The Standing Committee on Substance Abuse presented a free CLE program at the ABA's Annual Meeting in New York entitled: Problem-Solving Courts and their Federal Obligations. To read the materials which were distributed at the CLE program click here.
- Department of Justice sponsored The National Methamphetamine Awareness Day, November 30, 2006. Partners included federal, state and local governments, along with private sector and non-profit organizations nationwide. For more information, please visit http://www.usdoj.gov/methawareness.
- National Survey of Former Anti-Drug Policy Makers & Administrators
To mark the 35th Anniversary of the Controlled Substances Act, the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Substance Abuse conducted a national survey of former anti-drug policy makers and administrators to capture their insights. The purpose of the project is to inform future anti-drug policy with the lessons they learned in their service to the nation. The Standing Committee has received an unrestricted grant from the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation for the project.
The Standing Committee is organizing the survey responses and data and preparing a report. Thank you for your interest in this initiative.
- The Standing Committee awarded the 2006 Scripps Howard Foundation -- American Bar Association Distinguished Service to Literacy Award to The Honorable David W. Young, Circuit Court for Baltimore, Maryland on May 4, 2007.
- At the 2004 Annual Meeting, the House of Delegates approved a policy opposing discrimination against people seeking treatment or recovery from alcohol or other drug disease.
- At the 2005 Annual Meeting, the House of Delegates approved a policy urging all state, territorial and local legislative bodies and governmental officials to repeal laws and discontinue practices that permit insurers to deny coverage for alcohol or drug related injuries or losses covered by accident and sickness insurance policies that provide hospital, medical and surgical expense coverage.
- At the 2006 Annual Meeting, the House of Delegates approved a policy that urges all federal, state, territorial and local legislative bodies and governmental agencies to adopt laws and policies that require health and disability insurers who provide coverage for the treatment of both abuse and dependence on drugs and alcohol to do so in a manner that is based on the most current scientific protocols and standards of care, so as significantly to enhance the likelihood of successful recovery for each patient.
- At the 2007 Annual Meeting, the House of Delegates approved a policy that the American Bar Association affirms the principle that dependence on alcohol or other drugs is a disease, supports the principle that insurance coverage for the treatment of alcohol and drug disorders should be at parity with that for other diseases, and urges that all federal, state, territorial, tribal and local legislative bodies and governmental agencies repeal laws and discontinue policies and practices that allow health and disability insurers to provide coverage for the treatment of such disorders that is not at parity with coverage for other diseases.
- The Standing Committee on Substance Abuse is a cosponsor of the Teen Dating Violence Prevention Initiative in collaboration with the American Bar Association Steering Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children
Division for Public Services 2008 - 2009 Clerkship
The Clerkship is a unique program designed for law students to engage in an individualized public interest legal research and writing project in Washington, DC. In concert with Division attorneys and a law school faculty reviewer, a student will develop and complete a substantive legal monograph that may be published, if of a quality acceptable by the ABA. The Clerkship is unpaid. We encourage law students to incorporate the Clerkship into an externship/internship program at their law school and/or to seek supportive law school funding where needed.
For information about the Clerkship, please call 202/662-1691 or email cccoleman@staff.abanet.org.
Also, see our ad in the September issue of the Student Lawyer magazine.
