NADCP’s Adult Drug Court Best Practice Standards translate decades of research into clear, practical standards for drug courts to meet. These practices inform our training and technical assistance efforts and have served as a beacon to guide new and long-established programs alike in fidelity to the drug court model.

NADCP has made minor revisions in both volumes of the Adult Drug Court Best Practice Standards. These updates demonstrate the importance of NADCP and the professionals we represent using up-to-date diagnostic language and appropriate recovery terminology. The changes are as follows:

• Standard II has been retitled to “Equity and Inclusion” from “Historically Disadvantaged Groups,” and all instances of “historically disadvantaged groups” have been replaced with “members of groups that historically experienced discrimination.”
• Standard V has been retitled to “Substance Use Disorder Treatment” from “Substance Abuse Treatment,” and where appropriate, all instances of “substance abuse” and “substance abuse treatment” have been replaced with “substance use,” “substance use disorder” or “substance use disorder treatment.” Where appropriate, all instances of “substance dependence” have been replaced with “severe substance use disorder.”
  • Throughout the standards, instances of “substance abuse” and “substance dependence” have been retained when used in the title of a publication, website or organization.
• Other minor corrections and text revisions.

As professionals in the drug court field, we encourage you to review the changes and download the revised versions for your reference.