Inefficiencies in the treatment system

The Administration's focus on hard-core users has relied heavily on the application of federal drug treatment resources. For instance, the President's Drug Strategy states that "The Nation must utilize every opportunity to get chronic, hardcore drug users into treatment." (NOTE 11)

Federal treatment budgets have enjoyed consistent support over the years. In fact, whereas interdiction spending today is well below the level of five years ago, federal treatment spending increased in every year between 1982 and 1995. (NOTE 12 Paradoxically, these large budget increases have not led to a concomitant expansion in treatment capacity, which has remained almost flat since 1989. (NOTE 13) All the signs are that the treatment bureaucracy is not making efficient use of federal resources, yet there is no indication that the Administration has come to grips with this problem.