Of the 620 billion dollars total that state governments spend across the United States, $81.3 billion -- or 13% -- was used to deal with substance abuse and addiction.

Of every such dollar spent, 96 cents went to shoveling up the wreckage of substance abuse and addiction, and only four cents was used to prevent and treat it.

Each American paid $277 per year in state taxes to deal with the burden of substance abuse and addiction in their social programs, and only $10 per year for prevention and treatment.

Excerpted from: Shoveling Up: The Impact of Substance Abuse on State Budgets, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, Jan. 2001

Nobody knows the exact number of teens in the U.S. juvenile justice system that need drug or alcohol treatment, or the national number of treatment slots available in the justice system itself. Each of the justice system's more than 2,000 jurisdictions has its own way of organizing this information and making classifications.

However, a conservative estimate is that about 840,000 teens in the justice system -- or six times the number of publicly funded spaces available to all teens -- need substance abuse treatment. This figure assumes only 30 percent of the 2.8 million teens arrested in 1999 -- some say the percentage is as high as 60 -- have a drug or alcohol problem.

Here are other facts documenting the lack of substance abuse treatment for teens in trouble with the law.

The federal government surveyed juvenile corrections facilities and found that 36 percent offered substance-abuse treatment, although the type of service varied tremendously between "specialized substance abuse treatment units" (10.7 percent) and "general facility population only" (82.2 percent). This data suggests that up to 63 percent of youth in juvenile corrections are not receiving any substance-abuse treatment. Note that these figures are for juvenile justice facilities alone and do not include probation departments.

Source: Substance Abuse Treatment in Adult and Juvenile Correctional Facilities: Findings from the Uniform Facility Data Set, 1997 Survey of Correctional Facilities. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Juvenile probation departments, in a recent national survey, identified alcohol and drug treatment services as one of four top program expansion needs.

Source: Holding Juvenile Offenders Accountable: Programming Needs of Juvenile Probation Departments. National Council of Juvenile Justice. 1999.

A recent assessment in the state of Hawaii found that only one in 16 teens under the age of 18 who needed treatment received it.

Source: Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2000.

In 1999, approximately 140,000 young people got treatment, according to the largest set of data on publicly funded treatment. Juvenile justice systems were the single largest national referral source, accounting for about 40 percent of these teens. Admissions to publicly funded treatment tracked by this system for persons under the age of 18 have increased almost three-fold since 1992.

Source: Treatment Episode Data Set, Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2000.

Changing the Conversation (PDF: 292 kb), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2000
Demand Treatment, Join Together, 2000

Between 1995 and 2007, the population of persons ages 15 to 17 in the U.S. will increase by 19 percent. In 1997, the U.S. population ages 10 to 17 was 30,640,000, and the number of youth arrested was 2,838,300.

As of 1998, Approximately 8 percent of youth had ever been arrested and only 3 percent reported two or more arrests.

In 1997, approximately 1 in 5 arrests made by law enforcement agencies involved a juvenile. Juvenile court caseloads increased 49 percent between 1987 and 1996. The juvenile population increased only 11 percent in that time.

In 1996, black juveniles were referred to juvenile court a rate more than double that for whites.

Between 1987 and 1996, there has been a 144-percent increase in drug-abuse violations among the juvenile offenders. During that same period, there was a 183-percent increase in juvenile drug-abuse cases that were formally processed (not petitioned or handled informally).

Between 1993 and 1997, drug arrests continued to increase for juveniles, but arrests for most serious offenses and property offenses declined.

The proportion of seniors who reported breaking the law was greater among drug users than non-drug users. The 1997 National Longitudinal Study of Youth found that youth that have used marijuana were more likely to have used alcohol, sold the drug, carried a handgun, or been in a gang than youth who had not. Peak ages for onset of these behaviors appeared to be between 12 and 16.

Excerpted from: Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

In select cities studied, total estimates range from 45 percent to 68 percent of juvenile detainees showing a drug present in their system at the time of arrest.

Source: 1999 Annual Report on Drug Use Among Adult and Juvenile Arrestees. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

Recent estimates in prevalence rates for a variety of problems among youth in the juvenile justice system indicate that rates of substance abuse are as much as 10 times higher among juvenile offenders than among community samples of youth not in the juvenile justice system, and that psychiatric problems are present in a range from 6 to 9 times higher (including, but not limited to anxiety, mood, and post-traumatic stress disorders).

Source: Kazdin, A.E. (2000). Adolescent development, mental disorders, and decision-making. In T. Grisso & R. G. Schwartz (Eds.), Youth on trial: Developmental perspectives on juvenile justice (pp. 33-65). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

In 1986, nearly at the height of the drug war, 31 out of every 100,000 youth were admitted to state prisons for drug offenses. By 1996, 122 youth per 100,000 were entering prison on drug convictions. This represents a 291-percent increase in the rate at which young people were incarcerated because of drug involvement.

Nationally, the percent increase in the rate of incarceration for drug offenses between 1986 and 1996 was 539 percent for young blacks, compared to 90 percent for whites. In 1996, the young white rate of incarceration had doubled to 30, but the young black rate had grown nearly six and one-half times to 511 per 100,000.

Source: Schiraldi, V., Holman, B. and Beatty. P. (2000). Poor prescription: The costs of imprisoning drug offenders in the United States.Washington, D.C.: Justice Policy Institute.

50 to 75 percent of incarcerated youth nationwide are estimated to have a diagnosable mental health disorder. Youth of color, females, and homosexual youth are most vulnerable to mistreatment and mismanagement among those suffering from mental health problems.

Excerpted from Handle with Care: Serving the Mental Health Needs of Young Offenders" Coalition for Juvenile Justice.

Nearly two million children under age 18 were arrested in 2006¹. That large number may surprise many people. Sadly, research shows there is a direct connection between young people who end up in trouble with the law and are also abusing drugs and alcohol. The National Center on Addiction at Substance Abuse at Columbia University reveals four out of five teens in the juvenile justice system are under the influence of alcohol or drugs while committing their crimes.

Further, this research shows four out of five also test positive for drugs, are arrested for committing an alcohol or drug offense, admit having substance abuse problems or share some combination of these characteristics.²

These teens in trouble come from many walks of life, are disproportionately from low-income areas and communities of color, and often have other problems besides drug or alcohol abuse, such as coming from abusive or neglectful families.

They often suffer from mental problems as well. Nearly 85 percent of youth treated for substance abuse problems, also have a mental health disorder.³

Clearly, these young people are in need of help. Yet many go without treatment. In 2006, more than 21 million people ages 12 or older needed treatment for a drug or alcohol problem and did not receive it at a specialty substance abuse facility.⁴

And even when substance abuse treatment and mental health services exist, they may not be coordinated from one provider to the next. This lack of cooperation among service agencies often leaves teens shuffled around between fragmented services that aren't as effective as they should be. This is too bad because researchers have found that teens that receive coordinated comprehensive services are more likely to stay out of trouble and abstain from drug and alcohol use.

Plus, studies shows treatment works. Research suggests that treatment can cut drug abuse in half, drastically decrease criminal activity, and significantly reduce arrests.⁵ And it’s particularly affective for young people. For example, youth participating in the national Adolescent Treatment Models initiative showed reduction in substance abuse three months following treatment, particularly among youth who stayed in residential treatment.⁶

Substance abuse among teens in trouble with crime affects all of us, and our pocketbooks, when it goes untreated. Whereas treating addiction can save our communities money. For every dollar spent on addiction treatment programs, $4 to $7 is saved on drug-related crimes.⁷

It’s an investment overdue. Every dollar spent on drug treatment is estimated to return more than $18 in benefits to the community.⁸

It’s time to help these teens overcome drugs, alcohol, and crime by creating, offering and coordinating all the services they need. This approach will help reduce crime, save all of us money, and make communities safer.

¹ Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2007). Crime in the United States 2006, [Table 38]. Available online. Washington, DC: Author.

² The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. (2004). Criminal Neglect: Substance Abuse, Juvenile Justice and The Children Left Behind. [On-line]. Retrieved July 8, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.casacolumbia.org/ViewProduct.aspx?PRODUCTID={5E764135-2E2E-449c-9BDB-4075D2B6CB64}

³ Huang, L.N. (2004). Transforming mental health care for children and families, [Networks. Special Edition, Volume 8, Issues 3 & 4]. Available online. Alexandria, VA: National Technical Assistance Center for State Mental Health Planning

⁴ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2007). Results from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings (Office of Applied Studies, NSDUH Series H-32, DHHS Publication No. SMA 07-4293). Rockville, MD

⁵ The National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES): Highlights. DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 97-3159. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Office of Evaluation, Scientific Analysis and Synthesis, pp. 241–242. 1997.

⁶ Dasinger, L, Shane P, Martinovich Z. Assessing the Effectiveness of Community-Based Substance Abuse Treatment for Adolescents. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 36(1): 85-94, 2004.

⁷ National Institute on Drug Abuse. 2006. NIDA InfoFacts: Treatment approaches for drug addiction. pgs 1-2. Online at www.nida.nih.gov/PDF/InfoFacts/Treatment06.pdf

⁸ Aos, Steve, Marna Miller, and Elizabeth Drake. 2006. Evidence-based public policy options to reduce future prison construction, criminal justice costs, and crime rates. Olympia: Washington State Institute for Public Policy. Online at www.wsipp.wa.gov