Congress has approved a 50-percent increase in funding for drug courts under the Department of Justice's Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program, according to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP).

Under the funding bill passed by the House and Senate and signed into law by President Bush, the drug court program will receive $15.2 million in FY08, up from $10 million in 2006 and 2007.

"This represents the most substantial increase in federal drug court funding in the past six years," said West Huddleston, CEO of NADCP. "Although this is not the $40 million we fought all year for on Capitol Hill, in this political environment this is a victory that every drug court-professional should be proud of. Make no mistake. We received a 50-percent increase in funding because drug court professionals made their voices heard like never before in our history. We have restored broad bipartisan support for the program and we will capitalize on that momentum to take drug courts to scale in 2009."

Huddleston noted that drug courts were among the few domestic programs that received funding increases in the 2008 budget. The drug-court program had received $40 million in years past, but funding was trimmed to $10 million in 2006. Lawmakers also had proposed $40 million for drug courts early in the 2008 budget process, but later trimmed funding back to the $15.2 million mark.