Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJDATS): Editorial on the U. S. research initiative

Research in the U.S. has consistently shown that drug use and criminal activity are highly related, as evidenced by the growing number of incarcerated substance users in U.S. prisons and jails in the last two decades. The number of incarcerated substance users has led to increased efforts to develop, implement, and test interventions in both institucional programs and community programs at re-entry. In 2002, these efforts facilitated the development of the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJDATS) cooperative agreement grants funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). CJDATS has developed twelve research protocols designed to targeted different stages of an offender's progress from institution to community including assessing current practices, promoting structured re-entry, developing screening and referral instruments, and designing new treatment models. In addition, CJDATS has a vested interest in special populations of offenders (such as women offenders) and unique treatment issues (such as HIV). The success of CJDATS is largely dependent on the partnerships developed at the local, state, and national level with administrators and treatment providers in both correctional settings and in the community.