COMBATING DRUG USE

More money should be spent on prevention.

A private study has shown that the states spend about $81.3 billion dealing
with "the wreckage" of substance abuse.

According to "Shoveling Up: the Impact of Substance Abuse on State
Budgets," the state devoted 13 cents of every dollar to law enforcement,
health and social programs dealing with impact of drug and alcohol
abuse. Only about $3 billion went toward prevention and treatment
programs, with the rest spent on a wide range of services from law
enforcement to health care and welfare programs.

It cost Americans an average of $277 per year in state taxes to deal with
the effects of substance abuse. And that is only the state share. The
cost would rise dramatically if federal and local spending were included.

As part of the total budget, South Carolina spent the least of any state,
6.6 percent of its budget. However, New York spent 18 percent of its
budget, or about $8.6 billion, in 1998 on treatment and prevention of
substance abuse, the largest percentage of any state. The state treats abut
115,000 people a day for drug or alcohol abuse.

The study points to a need to change public attitudes and shift spending to
more cost-effective programs that prevent the violence and damage done by
substance abuse to individuals, families and society. Those advocating
increased spending on prevention and treatment say that every dollar spent
on such programs can save $7 in other costs.

The choice, as Paul Samuels of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers of
New York State said, is to spend "a little bit up front for treatment" or
"pay a whole lot more not much later in costs and lives."

"We cannot simply arrest our way out of the problem of drug abuse and
drug-related crime. Comprehensive treatment programs must be implemented
to end the cycle of drug abuse and crime," said Edward Jurish, acting
director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The emphasis now seems to be on law enforcement and tough prison sentences
to deter use, but the report said that a "revolution" in budgeting is
needed. First, there will have to be a revolution in attitudes.