Using SAMHSA to Find Drug and Rehabilitation Programs

by Kristyne McDaniel

Finding the right drug rehabilitation center for yourself or a loved one can be easier with the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration US Department of Health and Human Services (SAMHSA) website.  They have ways to narrow down to specific services to find just the right fit between addict and program.

The locater on the website is really a searchable directory of drug rehabilitation programs that boasts over ten thousand entries.  The first part of the locater service determines your state of residence.  Then a quick search will tell you what drug rehabilitation programs are near you.

After you input your state of residence, the locater will prompt you for information on your city and zip code.  The search radius for drug rehabilitation programs is in several distances up to 100 miles and can be set as small as 1 mile.

When I searched using my city and a 100 mile radius, 119 drug rehabilitation programs were returned in my results.  I went back and limited the search to 20 miles and only four facilities came up.  Three of the places were outpatient.  Only one of the drug rehabilitation programs was for inpatient treatment.

New York is the most populous city in the United States.  I used the SAMHSA locator to find that there are at least 136 drug rehabilitation programs within 5 miles.  Detailed search revealed outpatient methadone maintenance is available at 38 of those drug rehabilitation programs.  That was very interesting as I thought that methadone maintenance programs were not being funded as much anymore.

Hospital inpatient detoxification drug rehabilitation programs in Los Angeles number at one and it has a sliding payment scale based on income and other factors.  The same facility also operates outpatient drug rehabilitation programs and a halfway house.

Spanish speaking criminal justice clients are accepted in eight drug rehabilitation facilities in Chicago, Illinois.  Two of those drug rehabilitation facilities offer language assistance beyond Spanish.  The McDermott Center offers Polish and ASL and the Salvation Army Harbor Lights Center offers services for Hindi speakers.