To that end, CSAP works to give all Americans the tools and knowledge they need to help reject substance abuse by strengthening families and communities, and by developing knowledge of the types of prevention that work best for different populations at risk of substance abuse. The Center's grant programs promote the development, application, and dissemination of new knowledge in substance abuse prevention, whether focusing on preschool-age children and youth or on older Americans. CSAT administers the State block grant program for substance abuse prevention and treatment. OAS is responsible for the annual National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, the Drug Abuse Warning Network, and the Drug and Alcohol Services Information System, among other studies. The OA includes a number of special-focus Offices that coordinate agency efforts in managed care and in women's services.
Some topics are the product of Congressional mandate.
Still others are the outgrowth of Center-sponsored meetings or conferences of experts including researchers, clinicians and consumers and families that have highlighted empirically validated models of community interventions that appear ripe for replication. Finally, some build upon previous Center inquiry, helping to validate in the community setting not just one type of intervention, but systems of care along the broad continuum of need for care, whether for mental illness, substance use or abuse, or prevention of these problems. The result can be measured in significant improvements in how the Nation responds to substance abuse and mental illnesses. More important, the results are today being measured in the improved quality of people's lives.