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Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73

§290bb Center for Substance Abuse Treatment

Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 6A— - PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III–A— - SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION › Part Part B— - Centers and Programs › Subpart subpart 1— - center for substance abuse treatment › § 290bb

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Creates a Center for Substance Abuse Treatment inside the Administration and puts a Director in charge. The Secretary must pick the Director from people with a lot of experience or training in treating substance use disorders or in evaluating treatment systems. The Director must run the substance use disorder treatment block grant program (see section 300x–21). The Director must focus on children and adolescents and work with the Attorney General to provide treatment for people who have been in the justice system, especially teens. The Director must work with the Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention to find people who need treatment, with special attention to pregnant and postpartum women, their infants, and people who inject drugs. The Director must partner with the Directors of NIDA and NIAAA and with the States to spread research that improves treatment. The Director must also work with HRSA and CMS to bring treatment into regular health care. Other duties include reviewing State plans under section 300x–32(a)(6), running regional workshops, giving technical help to public and nonprofit treatment providers (including help applying for grants), educating communities about treatment needs, urging insurers to cover outpatient and nonhospital care, funding evaluations of treatment programs, using consistent rules and oversight for grants, expanding recovery support services, carrying out the 2017 report “Protecting Our Infants Act: Final Strategy” with the Secretary, and promoting education about substance use disorders for pregnant women and their health providers. The Director may make grants and enter into contracts or cooperative agreements with public and nonprofit private groups.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §290bb

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)There is established in the Administration a Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (hereafter in this section referred to as the “Center”). The Center shall be headed by a Director (hereafter in this section referred to as the “Director”) appointed by the Secretary from among individuals with extensive experience or academic qualifications in the treatment of substance use disorders or in the evaluation of substance use disorder treatment systems.
(b)The Director of the Center shall—
(1)administer the substance use disorder treatment block grant program authorized in section 300x–21 of this title;
(2)ensure that emphasis is placed on children and adolescents in the development of treatment programs;
(3)collaborate with the Attorney General to develop programs to provide substance use disorder treatment services to individuals who have had contact with the Justice system, especially adolescents;
(4)collaborate with the Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention in order to provide outreach services to identify individuals in need of treatment services, with emphasis on the provision of such services to pregnant and postpartum women and their infants and to individuals who illicitly use drugs intravenously;
(5)collaborate with the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, with the Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and with the States to promote the study, dissemination, and implementation of research findings that will improve the delivery and effectiveness of treatment services;
(6)collaborate with the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to promote the increased integration into the mainstream of the health care system of the United States of programs for providing treatment services;
(7)evaluate plans submitted by the States pursuant to section 300x–32(a)(6) of this title in order to determine whether the plans adequately provide for the availability, allocation, and effectiveness of treatment services;
(8)sponsor regional workshops on improving the quality and availability of treatment services;
(9)provide technical assistance to public and nonprofit private entities that provide treatment services, including technical assistance with respect to the process of submitting to the Director applications for any program of grants or contracts;
(10)carry out activities to educate individuals on the need for establishing treatment facilities within their communities;
(11)encourage public and private entities that provide health insurance to provide benefits for outpatient treatment services and other nonhospital-based treatment services;
(12)evaluate treatment programs to determine the quality and appropriateness of various forms of treatment, which shall be carried out through grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements provided to public or nonprofit private entities;
(13)ensure the consistent documentation of the application of criteria when awarding grants and the ongoing oversight of grantees after such grants are awarded;
(14)work with States, providers, and individuals in recovery, and their families, to promote the expansion of recovery support services and systems of care oriented toward recovery;
(15)in cooperation with the Secretary, implement and disseminate, as appropriate, the recommendations in the report entitled “Protecting Our Infants Act: Final Strategy” issued by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2017; and
(16)in cooperation with relevant stakeholders, and through public-private partnerships, encourage education about substance use disorders for pregnant women and health care providers who treat pregnant women and babies.
(c)In carrying out the duties established in subsection (b), the Director may make grants to and enter into contracts and cooperative agreements with public and nonprofit private entities.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 290bb, act
July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title V, § 510, formerly Pub. L. 91–616, title V, § 501, as added Pub. L. 94–371, § 7,
July 26, 1976, 90 Stat. 1038; amended Pub. L. 95–622, title II, § 268(c), (d), Nov. 9, 1978, 92 Stat. 3437; Pub. L. 96–180, § 14, Jan. 2, 1980, 93 Stat. 1305; renumbered § 510 of act
July 1, 1944, and amended Apr. 26, 1983, Pub. L. 98–24, § 2(b)(9), 97 Stat. 179; Oct. 19, 1984, Pub. L. 98–509, title II, §§ 205(a)(1), 206(c)(1), 98 Stat. 2361, 2362, related to encouragement of alcohol abuse and alcoholism research, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 102–321, § 122(b)(1). Prior to repeal, section 510(b) of act
July 1, 1944, was renumbered section 464H(b) by Pub. L. 102–321 and transferred to section 285n(b) of this title. A prior section 507 of act
July 1, 1944, which was classified to section 290aa–5 of this title, was renumbered section 504 of act
July 1, 1944, by Pub. L. 102–321 and transferred to section 290aa–3 of this title.

Amendments

2018—Subsec. (b)(15). Pub. L. 115–271, § 7063(b), added subsec. (b)(15). Subsec. (b)(16). Pub. L. 115–271, § 7063(c), added par. (16). 2016—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 114–255, § 6007(c)(1), substituted “treatment of substance use disorders” for “treatment of substance abuse” and “use disorder treatment systems” for “abuse treatment systems”. Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 114–255, § 6007(c)(2)(A), substituted “use disorder” for “abuse”. Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 114–255, § 6007(c)(2)(B), substituted “use disorder” for “abuse”. Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 114–255, § 6007(c)(2)(C), substituted “individuals who illicitly use drugs” for “individuals who abuse drugs”. Subsec. (b)(9). Pub. L. 114–255, § 6007(c)(2)(D), struck out “carried out by the Director” before semicolon at end. Subsec. (b)(10) to (14). Pub. L. 114–255, § 6007(c)(2)E–(H), added pars. (13) and (14), redesignated pars. (11) to (14) as (10) to (13), respectively, struck out former par. (10), which related to encouraging the States to expand the availability (relative to fiscal year 1992) of programs providing treatment services, and struck out par. (13), as redesignated, which related to assessing the quality, appropriateness, and costs of various treatment forms. 2003—Subsec. (b)(6). Pub. L. 108–173 substituted “Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services” for “Health Care Financing Administration”. 2000—Subsec. (b)(2) to (6). Pub. L. 106–310, § 3112(a)(1), (2), added pars. (2) and (3) and redesignated former pars. (2) to (4) as (4) to (6), respectively. Former pars. (5) and (6) redesignated (7) and (8), respectively. Subsec. (b)(7). Pub. L. 106–310, § 3112(a)(1), (3), redesignated par. (5) as (7) and substituted “services” for “services, and monitor the use of revolving loan funds pursuant to section 300x–25 of this title”. Former par. (7) redesignated (9). Subsec. (b)(8) to (12). Pub. L. 106–310, § 3112(a)(1), redesignated pars. (6) to (10) as (8) to (12), respectively. Former pars. (11) and (12) redesignated (13) and (14), respectively. Subsec. (b)(13). Pub. L. 106–310, § 3112(a)(1), (4), redesignated par. (11) as (13) and substituted “treatment, which shall” for “treatment, including the effect of living in housing provided by programs established under section 300x–25 of this title, which shall”. Subsec. (b)(14). Pub. L. 106–310, § 3112(a)(1), (5), redesignated par. (12) as (14) and substituted “paragraph (13)” for “paragraph (11)”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1992, with provision for programs providing financial assistance, see section 801(c), (d) of Pub. L. 102–321, set out as an

Effective Date

of 1992 Amendment note under section 236 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 290bb

Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73