DEALING WITH DRUG COSTS.

• Position: Addiction and abuse related state spending - Brief Article

Dealing with the effects of drug, alcohol and cigarette abuse cost states about as much as they pay for higher education, according to a study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. States spent $81.3 billion dealing with substance abuse in 1998, or about 13 percent of their budgets. New York was at the top, spending 18 percent of its budget, followed by Massachusetts, California and Washington, D.C. Puerto Rico spent the smallest...