Substance abuse is a serious drain on Maryland’s financial resources, crowding the courts and filling up jails. A new report by the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute finds that there are insufficient resources for treatment and prevention. The Capital has the details:
There were about 70,000 Marylanders admitted to treatment in 2007, but thousands more remained untreated, according to the institute’s report…
Maryland spends an average of $117 million – 0.64 percent of the state’s budget – on substance-abuse prevention, treatment and research, which ranks it third in the nation for per capita spending.
Yet out of every $100 spent on substance abuse in Maryland, only about $4.53 goes toward prevention and treatment efforts.
That results in “a substance-abuse system which struggles to stretch its resources to meet the need for treatment of current abusers, with little left to make effective strides in prevention,” the report stated.
To address our long-term budget problems, we need to not only cut spending but also figure out how to use the money we do spend more efficiently.
You can read the full report here.
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