Getting messed up . . .

In the days ahead, I'll try to run down some of the particular and individual outrages the champions of freedom© are proposing to commit. This post concerns substance abuse and addiction.

1. Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant, which supports state programs: level funded at $1.78 billion. That is of course, an effective cut given inflation and the increasing population.
2. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, which makes grants to local organizations and provides technical assistance and capacity building: cut by $15 million, or more than 7% in nominal dollars.
3. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): $4 million increase in a $1 billion budget, far less than the rate of inflation. (Not that my heart bleeds -- NIDA's research agenda is distorted by ideology.)
4. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism: $2 million increase in a $440 million budget, far less than inflation.
5. State grants for Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities: eliminated.
6. Alcohol use reduction grants: eliminated.

There were a couple of programs in the area that got funding increases -- the biggest chunk of which is for mandatory drug testing of students.

See my earlier post, Soft on Crime, for a hint about what this is actually going to do for government spending. Hint: prisons cost money.