Educational requirements for personnel in drug treatment programs

establishing unduly rigid or uniform educational qualification for counselors and other personnel in drug treatment programs may undermine the effectiveness of such programs; and such educational requirements for counselors and other personnel may hinder or prevent the provision of needed drug treatment services. In determining whether personnel of a program participant that has a record of successful drug treatment for the preceding three years have satisfied State or local requirements for education and training, a State or local government shall not discriminate against education and training provided to such personnel by a religious organization, so long as such education and training includes basic content substantially equivalent to the content provided by nonreligious organizations that the State or local government would credit for purposes of determining whether the relevant requirements have been satisfied. The Congress finds that— (Source: (July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title V, § 596C, formerly § 584, as added Pub. L. 106–554, § 1(a)(7) [title I, § 144], Dec. 21, 2000, 114 Stat. 2763, 2763A–622; renumbered § 596C, Pub. L. 119–44, title I, § 107(a)(2), Dec. 1, 2025, 139 Stat. 674.))