Shoveling Up II: The Impact of Substance Abuse on Federal, State and Local Budgets

This report, based on three years of research and analysis, is the first ever to assess the costs of tobacco, alcohol, and illegal and prescription drug abuse to all levels of government. Using the most conservative assumptions, the study concluded that the federal government spent $238.2 billion; states, $135.8 billion; and local governments, $93.8 billion, in 2005 (the most recent year for which data were available over the course of the study).