An agency of the u.s. Department of health and human services created in 1992 and made up of the center for mental health services, the center for substance abuse prevention, and the center for substance abuse treatment. These programs were formerly contained in the alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health administration (ADAMHA).
One of the eight major components of the Public Health Service (PHS), which is itself a part of the U S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). SAMHSA conducts and funds biomedical research designed to alleviate mental health problems as well as those related to drug and alcohol abuse. Federal efforts to improve mental health and reduce the harm caused by drug and alcohol abuse are concentrated in the PHS’s SAMHSA, plus the following three institutes within the National Institutes of Health (NIH): 1) the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2) the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and 3) the National Institute of Mental Health.