Congress Weighs Decision on Performance-Based Funding for Drug Rehab

11/08/2007

The Senate voted 75-19 on Oct. 23 to approve the budget for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which includes funding for drug rehab and education services throughout the country.

The budget approved by the Senate seeks to spend nearly $5.5 billion more next year than in 2007, and is nearly $10 billion more than the President’s budget request. The White House issued a statement threatening to veto the bill if fully passed through Congress, calling for more scrutinized spending instead of blanket increases. The money would go to agencies such as the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The issue at odds isn't whether or not money should go to drug rehab and prevention services, it is a question of which services are actually effective. While there are a couple of tools to measure effectiveness, some critics say that even those are flawed, and that programs continue to receive federal block grant money despite not getting any substantial results.

Simply throwing more money at the problem won’t fix it, but abruptly cutting funding would mean less people being serviced. Perhaps there could be more precise outcomes measurement criteria that are more universally accepted so that funding could be increased to only those programs that prove to work, with part of the money allocated for training of existing facility personnel to allow them eligibility for continued funding. This way the same facilities get the subsidy, but they conform to a more successful practice than the one they were previously using for drug rehab or prevention services.

Are you losing a loved one to drug or alcohol addiction? Is addiction destroying your life and happiness, or the life and happiness of someone you love?

For help go to: http://www.drugaddictiontreatment.ca

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