Drug Strategies, Inc. Releases Report on Federal Drug Control Spending

DRUG POLICY STUDIES April 1996

A report released by the Washington, DC-based group Drug Strategies, Inc. finds that federal spending priorities are not addressing critical policy issues associated with drug abuse (Drug Strategies, Keeping Score 1996, 1996).

The report examines trends in drug use and addiction, the links among drug use, crime, and the criminal justice system, drugs in the workplace, and the public health consequences of the drug problem.

Since 1980, federal, state, and local agencies have spent $290 billion on anti-drug programs, with little noticeable effect on addiction or drug-related crime, the report finds. Most money on the federal level has been spent on supply reduction, a policy that has not decreased the flow of drugs into the country and has not increased the street price or purity of illegal drugs. Less than one-third of federal anti-drug spending in 1995 went to programs to reduce the demand for drugs.

The report also summarizes community-based programs that have been proven to decrease problems associated with drug abuse.

[To obtain a copy of this report, which includes a floppy disk of the text and charts, contact Drug Strategies, Inc. at 2445 M Street, NW, Suite 480, Washington, DC 20037, 202-663-6090.]