Federal Budget Contradicts Research, Targets Supply over Demand
A private research and policy analysis organization, Carnevale Associates LLC, has released a two page policy brief that examines the federal drug control budget. The document shows that from fiscal year 2002 to fiscal year 2009, federal spending for drug treatment grew at 22% to $618M while federal spending for drug interdiction grew at 100% to nearly 2 billion dollars.
The chart below is included:
| FY 02 - FY 09 (Dollars in millions) | ||
| Dollars (change) | Percent (change) | |
| By Function: | ||
| Treatment (w/Research) | $618.2 | 22.2% |
| Prevention (w/Research) | -$489.3 | -24.5% |
| Domestic Law Enforcement | $896.1 | 31.3% |
| Interdiction | $1,917.2 | 100.2% |
| International | $525.3 | 48.4% |
| Total | $3,467.5 | 32.6% |
| By Supply/Demand Split | ||
| Supply | $3,338.6 | 56.9% |
| Demand | $ 128.8 | 2.7% |
| Total | $3,467.4 | 32.6% |
This policy brief unfortunately lacks any footnoting or indication of the research that forms the basis of their program effectiveness rankings. While the numbers speak for themselves, the relative effectiveness of treatment compared to interdiction has still not been demonstrated clearly enough to impact the the federal budgeting process. Failing to source the claimed effectiveness of treatment diminishes from the value this policy brief.
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