New CASA study reveals where taxpayer funds have been going in regards to substance abuse issues.
A new CASA study shows that tax dollars are being spent combating the aftermath of addiction and substance abuse as opposed to treating it in the first place.
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Along with that figure, which is in itself astonishing, the real shock is that about 85% of that, or about $360 Billion, wasn’t spent on treating addiction and combating the drug problem itself, but rather, in handling the consequences of addiction on things like drug related crime, healthcare, prisons, welfare, and other adverse side effects of drugs. The figures were released in a new report titled “Shoveling Up II: The Impact of Substance Abuse on the Federal, State and Local Budgets.
But what was even more surprising was that the new 287 page report called Shoveling Up II: The Impact of Substance Abuse on the Federal, State and Local Budgets, found that $357.4 billion of the funds went to handle the consequences of addiction which include things such as child abuse, welfare, crime, healthcare costs, homelessness and several other negative effects.
In fact, only 1.9% of the money paid by our taxpayers went into drug rehabilitation. This is a clear problem in our nation’s perspective on how to handle the addictions of our children, friends, and neighbors. This viewpoint is shared as well by CASA Chairman, Joseph A. Califano Jr., as he shared in a press release not long ago.
In this statement, Califano said that, “Under any circumstances spending more than 95 percent of tax money on the consequences of tobacco, alcohol or other drug abuse and addiction and less than two percent to relieve individuals and taxpayers of this burden would be considered a reckless misallocation of public funds.”
\This “misallocation” totaling in the Billions could have gone to helping our communities and loved ones actually treat the problems instead of waiting for it to get to these dire consequences.
“We believe that you have to really reach out and help the individuals suffering through addiction to get to be drug free, ethical, and productive members of society once again, and that is the only way that our nations problem with addiction will be handled.” says Eric Mitchell, President of Suncoast Rehabilitation Center in Spring Hill, Fl. “In addition to helping those in need, it is also educating our communities and children on the dangers of drugs and alcohol and what the consequences are so that they never get to that point. It’s a perspective of cleaning up the problems we have by rehabilitation and getting to the root of it, to our children who are going to inevitably face some tough choices in life due to peer pressure and lack of education on drugs, before they get to the point of needing help that will stop this problem.”
Suncoast Rehabiliation is one of the leading drug and alcohol treatment centers in the country which utilizes a comprehensive model of treatment. Suncoast deals with the Biophysical aspects of addiction, as well as underlying issue and life skills therapies to help handle the addiction fully to where a person can move on drug free, and stably get back to living a productive life. Suncoast enjoys an over 70 % success rate in handling addiction for permanent recovery from drug and alocohol addiction.
Bottom line, as a country, we are looking at the effects of addiction rather than trying to handle it before it gets that far. These funds need to go to help get our citizens the treatment they need, which will in the long run cost us as a nation far less than “cleaning up” after the addiction. More importantly, we would have more of our loved ones free from the grips of addciton and back to their families and society in general, not only drug free, but lay abiding and productive. It would be an investment in our future.
If you know someone who is need of help, and in need of their lives back, contact Suncoast Rehabilitation Center at 800.511.9403.
