NCJ Number
227065
Date Published
May 2009
Length
176 pages
Annotation
This report presents a comprehensive picture of substance-related spending across all levels of government conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA).
Abstract
Highlights of key findings of this report were that in 2005: (1) the Federal Government spent $238.2 billion on substance abuse and addiction or 9.6 percent of the Federal budget; (2) State governments, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, spent 15.7 percent of their budget ($135.8 billion) to deal with substance abuse and addiction, up from 13.3 percent in 1998; (3) local governments spent conservatively $93.9 billion on substance abuse and addiction or 9.0 percent of local budgets; (4) the largest area of Federal and State government spending on the burden of substance abuse and addiction was healthcare, totaling $207.2 billion in 2005; and (5) the second largest area of Federal and State spending on the burden of substance abuse and addiction, and the largest area of State spending, was the justice system, $47.0 billion total cost in Federal and State burden spending in 2005. Future steps should be taken in alternative practices to reduce disease and costs to government, which would include prevention and early intervention, treatment and disease management, taxation and regulation, and research and evaluation. In 2005, Federal, State, and local governments spent at least $467.7 billion on substance abuse and addiction. Building on the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse's (CASA's) 2001 report, this report reveals the pervasive and devastating burden of substance abuse and addiction to all government budgets. This report shows how governmental spending is skewed toward shoveling up the burden of the country's continued failure to prevent and treat the problem rather than toward investing in cost effective approaches to prevent and minimize the disease and its consequences. Tables, figures, appendixes A-E, notes, and bibliography