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Studies show the cost of substance misuse in the U.S. is over $500 Billion dollars. These figures include the impact of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use and include resource and productivity costs. Two local anti-drug coalitions were interested in finding out how much substance misuse costs the local taxpayer in Tennessee and how much of that money could be saved by investing in substance misuse prevention.
Over the past 7 months, Stephanie Strutner, Executive Director-ASAP, Sarah Harrison, Executive Director- RCADC, Wayne Stephenson Ph.D., and Stacey Pratt, Project Coordinator-ASAP, have spent over 400 hours researching the cost of substance misuse and the financial benefit of prevention. The project found that $3,023,687,696 of taxpayer funding is spent in Tennessee “shoveling-up” the costs of the failure to prevent substance misuse. The good news is the project also found that for every $1 invested in substance misuse prevention at the state level $4.60 can be saved in burden spending. The benefit of local tax dollar investment in prevention is even greater at a savings of $16.76 in Anderson County and $14.66 in Roane County.
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