May 2009

Shoveling Up II: The Impact of Substance Abuse on Federal, State and Local Budgets

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse estimated the cost of substance abuse and addiction across social systems in 2005.The researchers sought to update a 2001 report on state substance spending, "Shoveling Up: The Impact of Substance Abuse on State Budgets." This new report features individual cost breakdowns for spending by the federal government, 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, local governments, and three local case studies (a city, Nashville, Tennessee; a county, Multnomah County, Oregon; a combined city and county, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina). The researchers evaluated government budgets for substance abuse-related spending on health care, criminal, juvenile and family court justice systems, incarceration, child welfare, domestic violence and child abuse, homelessness, mental illness and developmental disabilities.