Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110

§290bb Center for Substance Abuse Treatment

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

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Creates a Center for Substance Abuse Treatment inside the Administration and puts a Director in charge. The Secretary must pick a Director who has strong experience or academic training in treating substance use disorders or in evaluating treatment systems. The Center must run the substance use disorder treatment block grant program under section 300x–21 and focus on children and adolescents. It must work with the Attorney General, with the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, with the National Institutes on Drug Abuse and Alcohol Abuse, with States, and with health agencies to reach people who need treatment, especially justice-involved youth, pregnant and postpartum women and their infants, and people who inject drugs. The Center must also review State plans under section 300x–32(a)(6), promote research and better care, help integrate treatment into mainstream health care, hold regional workshops, give technical help, support community education, push insurers to cover outpatient and nonhospital care, evaluate treatment programs through grants or contracts, keep consistent grant rules and oversight, help expand recovery support services, and, with the Secretary, share the 2017 report titled "Protecting Our Infants Act: Final Strategy." The Director may give grants and sign 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)Establishment
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)Duties
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)Grants and contracts
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

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110