Resources on drug courts

With so much going on in the sentencing world, yesterday I buried here the link to Eighth Circuit Judge Donald Lay's powerful NY Times op-ed calling for greater use of drug court programs in the federal system.  Here's one of many highlights from the piece:

Given the success of drug courts in the states, the federal government should study how to modify its sentencing to incorporate elements of the drug court model and to assess the effectiveness of community-based alternatives to imprisonment for nonviolent federal drug felons.

In conjunction with giving this insightful op-ed some more attention, I thought it might be useful here to marshal some of the terrific on-line resources concerning drug court programs.  Though this is only a tiny slice of the materials to be found on the web, persons interesting in learning more about drug courts might consult:

• This (link-filled) list of "Drug Court Resources - Facts and Figures" from the National Criminal Justice Research Service
• This data-rich account of drug court facts from the National Drug Court Institute
• The home page for the OJP Drug Court Clearinghouse and Technical Assistance Project
• This drug courts page for the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy
• Descriptions and accounts of drug courts in California and New York and Texas and Utah

UPDATE: With thanks to a wonderfully helpful reader, here is a link to an encouraging article about drug court successes in south Boston on a webpage that also has links to additional drug court articles.