Click over to “Shrink rap” (a good psychiatry blog) for the longer version of this informative post. An except:
According to a report CASA issued this morning, federal, state and local governments spend almost half a trillion dollars every year — almost 11 percent of their total budgets — as a result of alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse
and addiction. The worst part is that, for federal and state spending,
about 95% of that money is spent “Shoveling Up” the mess created by a
failure to provide enough money for prevention and treatment.That’s
right. Out of every dollar federal and state governments spent on
substance misuse in 2005 (the latest data available), 95 cents paid for
the enormous burden of this problem on health care, criminal justice, child welfare,
education, and other programs. And only 2 cents were invested in
prevention and treatment programs that could reduce many of these costs
— and save lives.
