Friday, June 13, 2008
Editorial: Drug treatment loses again
Substance abuse programs work, but the General Assembly can't even get them all the money it promises.
From the RoundTable blog
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The Virginia General Assembly asked legislative investigators to study the effects of alcohol and drug abuse in the commonwealth. Their draft report came out this week, and one of the most notable findings is that the commonwealth is siphoning funds earmarked for substance abuse programs. Those programs can ill-afford to lose any of the pittance the commonwealth gives them.
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission studied substance abuse in the commonwealth in 2006. The adverse effects of abuse cost local and state governments at least $613 million that year. The biggest expenditure was on law enforcement.
That same year, the commonwealth and localities spent $102 million providing substance abuse services.
A good chunk of the money comes from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Money raised from selling liquor, goes to fight some of the problems liquor causes. In 2006, the ABC handed over $72.6 million. By law, it went into the state general fund, earmarked for substance abuse programs.
Funny things happen to money in the general fund: It tends to disappear. JLARC found that only $55 million actually went where it was supposed to. Where the remaining $18 million went is anyone's guess.
Such money laundering is deplorable. As it is, government chronically underfunds substance abuse programs despite their proven benefits.
People who complete treatment cost society much less over time. They commit fewer crimes, cause fewer accidents and generate fewer health expenses.
Substance abuse harms the innocent, too. One need look no further than Montgomery County to see that. There, a spate of child deaths and injuries has occurred at the hands of abusive or negligent parents. The county's social services director estimates 90 percent of child protective cases involve substance abuse by parents.
The $18 million might not have prevented any of the three child fatalities in Montgomery County so far this year, but then again it might have. Certainly some dead children somewhere in Virginia would be alive today if their parents had received treatment.
The legislative commission concluded that the state should work harder to deliver services. Lawmaker might start by changing the law so that $18 million cannot disappear into the general fund. The money from ABC belongs in a special account specifically set aside for substance abuse programs.
