The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has provided us with two documents that describe the "Access to Recovery" substance abuse treatment initiative that the President announced in his State of the Union address.

These documents answer many of the questions that have been raised regarding this new initiative. "Access to Recovery" will provide our field with: (1) an opportunity to implement innovative changes in the way services are delivered; (2) an additional mechanism to expand the array of available services; and (3) an expansion of existing service capacity.

The "Access to Recovery" initiative has come a long way in the past few months. The attached documents explain the core components of the initiative. We hope that you will not only take the time to read the attached documents, but that you will share them with others in the field who need to know the details about this important initiative.