42 U.S.C. § 290kk–3 — Educational requirements for personnel in drug treatment programs

(a) Findings: Congress found two things. First, requiring rigid or uniform education qualifications for drug-treatment counselors and staff can make those programs less effective. Second, those same requirements can get in the way of providing drug treatment that's actually needed. (b) Nondiscrimination: Suppose a program participant has successfully treated drug abuse for the past three years, and a state or local government is deciding whether that participant's staff meet education and training requirements. In that situation, the government cannot discriminate against training given by a religious organization — as long as that training covers basic content that's substantially equivalent to what the government would accept from a nonreligious organization.