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.
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. Important, if not the most important, weapons against substance abuse are education and treatment. A tremendous obstacle to treatment has been disparate benefits in health benefits for substance abuse when compared to insurance benefits for other diseases. The Committee has long lobbied for parity in reimbursement for treatment.
This past year the Congress passed the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. The Act does not become effective until January 1, 2010. During 2009 it is contemplated that appropriate federal agencies will adopt regulations for compliance with the legislation and the states will be considering what they must do to comply.
The primary focus of the Committee during 2009 will be to become involved in the implementation of this legislation on both the state and federal levels.
H. Robert Fiebach, 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.
Other Sites of Interest
Division for Public Services 2009 - 2010 Clerkships
The Division offers two Clerkship opportunities:
The first is a ten-week Spring/Summer Clerkship open by competition, reviewed on a rolling basis and offering students entering into their second or third year at an ABA-accredited law school the opportunity to design and complete a legal research and writing project in substantive areas of Division concern. If of acceptable quality, the Division may publish the resultant monograph. Applicants must be members of the ABA Law Student Division and may join at http://www.abanet.org/lsd/home.html.
The second is a Fall/Winter Clerkship and typically involves conducting project research and writing; developing information for directories and other databases; coordinating survey development, distribution and results; or editing manuscripts for publication. Applicants may be undergraduate or law school students depending on project need.
- NEW!! 2009-2010 Clerkship Flyer
- Shanda Moyers, a 3L at Stetson University School of Law, was the winner of the 2007-2008 PSD Clerkship. Shanda's research focused on the small segment of the long-term homeless population with the most pronounced barriers to self-sufficiency, primarily mental health and/or substance abuse issues. Her research evaluated the effectiveness of legislation and the use of the criminal justice system in combating street homelessness in comparison with the effectiveness of measures employing outreach and the Housing First model.
- 2005 Winner of the PSD Summer Internship
- Criminal Responsibility and Multiple Personality Defendants, a monograph produced by our 1997 Internship winner,
Ms. Sabra Owens.
- Article by 2005 Winner, Dr. Andrea Blau, Mental & Physical Disability Reporter, Vol. 30, Issue 1
Also, see our article in the September issue of the ABA Law Student Division's Student Lawyer magazine. Visit the ABA Law Student Division at http://www.abanet.org/lsd/home.html.
What's New
- Save the Date!
The Standing Committee on Substance Abuse is a cosponsor of “The Juvenile Justice System Youth, Drugs and Mental Illness Resources and Policies: Identification of Reforms Needed to Eliminate Discrimination Disparities” in collaboration with the American Bar Association Council on Racial and Ethnic Justice at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois on Thursday July 30,2009. - 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
This Committee operates within the ABA Division of Public Services. To view the websites of other Division entities, please click here. |
