Fiscal Year 2010 Budget in Brief

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

(dollars in millions)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration builds resilience and facilitates recovery for people with or at risk for substance abuse and mental illness.

The FY 2010 Budget requests $3.5 billion for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an increase of $59 million above FY 2009. The Budget continues Federal support for State and local efforts to increase the availability of quality prevention and treatment services for substance abuse and mental illness.

During the last decade more than 25 million people across the Nation used an illicit drug for the first time and more than 300,000 individuals died from suicide. The FY 2010 Budget invests in evidence based prevention, early intervention, treatment, and recovery services to respond to these preventable and treatable public health problems. The Budget includes funding increases to expand the treatment capacity of drug courts, protect methamphetamine’s youngest victims, improve children’s mental health, and reach individuals suffering from mental illness who are facing homelessness. These programmatic increases are partially supported through the discontinuation of one time projects that were funded in FY 2009.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Substance abuse affects individuals, families, schools, workplaces, and communities. In recognition that substance abuse prevents our Nation from achieving its full potential, the FY 2010 Budget includes $2.4 billion, an increase of $43 million, for effective substance abuse prevention and treatment activities. Expanding the Treatment Capacity of Drug Courts: The Budget includes $59 million to expand the treatment capacity of drug courts, an increase of $35 million for this initiative. States and localities are increasingly using drug courts as an effective way of facilitating recovery and reducing criminal recidivism. Drug courts use close supervision, drug testing, sanctions, and incentives to ensure that offenders stick with their treatment plans and refrain from further criminal activity. The Budget provides resources to enable such courts to expand or enhance their treatment and recovery support services.

Expanding the Treatment Capacity of Drug Courts: The Budget includes $59 million to expand the treatment capacity of drug courts, an increase of $35 million for this initiative. States and localities are increasingly using drug courts as an effective way of facilitating recovery and reducing criminal recidivism. Drug courts use close supervision, drug testing, sanctions, and incentives to ensure that offenders stick with their treatment plans and refrain from further criminal activity. The Budget provides resources to enable such courts to expand or enhance their treatment and recovery support services.

Protecting Methamphetamine’s Youngest Victims: Children with parents that use methamphetamine are at a heightened risk for abuse, neglect, and continued social and developmental problems. Within the increased funding for drug courts, $5 million will support families affected by methamphetamine abuse. Depending on their individual needs, children will receive early intervention and prevention services, mental health and child counseling, and other services to improve their safety and well being.

Providing Access to Recovery: The Budget includes $99 million, the same level as FY 2009, to support States and Tribes in providing individuals facing substance abuse with a choice among various clinical treatment and recovery support service providers, including faith- and neighborhood-based providers. To date, 28 States and Tribes have received Federal support to develop consumer driven substance abuse treatment systems that empower clients to take responsibility for their own recovery. The FY 2010 Budget will expand the reach of this approach by supporting a new cohort of Access to Recovery grants.

Using Electronic Reporting to Prevent Addiction to Prescription Drugs: Prescription medications are highly beneficial treatments for a variety of health conditions. However, when abused, prescription medications can produce adverse health effects and lead to addiction. The Budget includes $2 million, the same level as FY 2009, to support the establishment and improvement of State administered controlled substance monitoring programs, as authorized by the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act of 2005. These programs will ensure that health care providers have access to accurate, timely prescription information that they can use as a tool for early identification of patients at risk of addiction.

Supporting Prevention and Treatment: The Budget includes $1.8 billion, the same level as FY 2009, for the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant, which distributes funding to 60 States and jurisdictions to plan, implement, and evaluate substance abuse prevention and treatment services. At least 20 percent of this funding supports education and counseling to reduce the risk of substance abuse among individuals before they become addicted.

Providing Screening and Brief Interventions: The Budget includes $29 million to integrate substance abuse screening and interventions into general medical settings. This approach enables medical professionals to divert clients from a path that might otherwise lead to dependence and addiction, thereby avoiding significant health care and treatment costs.

Using a Strategic Framework to Prevent Substance Use: By the end of FY 2009, nearly every State and a number of Tribes and Territories will have received Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grants to carry out needs assessments using epidemiological data, develop strategic plans to address the identified needs, and implement evidence based prevention efforts. The FY 2010 Budget continues to support these activities through ongoing grants as well as through competitive supplemental awards for evidence based programming. The Budget includes a total of $110 million for these efforts.

Reducing the Burden of HIV/AIDS Among Minority Populations: Behavioral health is integral to the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. For instance, substance abuse is often linked to the transmission of new HIV/AIDS cases, and clients diagnosed with HIV/AIDS who experience mental disorders frequently do not receive mental health treatment that could improve their medical outcomes and quality of life. The Budget includes $117 million to foster behavioral health among African American, Latino, and other ethnic and racial minority populations experiencing disproportionate increases in HIV/AIDS.

MENTAL HEALTH

Untreated serious mental illness can make it difficult to hold a job, go to school, relate to others, and cope with ordinary life demands. The Budget includes $986 million, an increase of $17 million, for the prevention and treatment of mental illness.

Improving Children’s Mental Health: The Budget provides $125 million, an increase of $17 million, for grants to States and localities to support the development of comprehensive community-based systems of care for children and adolescents with serious emotional disorders.

Assisting in the Transition from Homelessness: The Budget includes a total of $103 million, an increase of $8 million, for community based services for individuals suffering from severe mental illness who are facing homelessness. This includes $68 million, an increase of $8 million, for the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness formula grant which is a flexible funding stream that allows local programs to use their grant funds in ways most appropriate to their communities to assist in the transition from homelessness. The total also includes $35 million to support services, in coordination with existing permanent supportive housing programs and in other community-level settings, for individuals and families experiencing chronic homelessness.

Supporting Community Mental Health Services: The Budget includes $421 million, the same level as FY 2009, for the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant. States use this flexible funding source to support infrastructure, service delivery, planning, and evaluation activities toward the development of a comprehensive community based mental health service delivery system.

Preventing Youth Violence: The Budget includes $95 million for the prevention of youth violence. Through Safe Schools/Healthy Students, SAMHSA collaborates with the Departments of Education and Justice to help local partnerships draw on the best practices of education, justice, law enforcement, and social and mental health services to promote healthy child development and prevent violence. SAMHSA supported interventions foster early childhood development of mental and physical health, reduce or delay the onset of emotional and behavioral problems, and treat children with serious emotional disturbance.

Preventing Suicide: The Budget includes $47 million specifically targeted to prevent suicide, which is a preventable public health problem. The Budget continues to support activities authorized by the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act which support intervention and prevention strategies in schools, institutions of higher education, juvenile justice systems, and other youth support organizations. The Budget also maintains a national hotline that routes calls from anywhere in the United States to a network of certified local crisis centers that can link callers to local emergency, mental health, and social service resources. In addition to these targeted resources, the broader investments made by SAMHSA in the prevention and treatment of mental and substance abuse disorders also play a key role in preventing suicide.

Protecting Individuals with Mental Illness: The Budget includes $36 million, the same level as FY 2009, to support States in protecting individuals with mental illnesses and serious emotional disturbances from abuse, neglect, and civil rights violations. The protection and advocacy systems that receive funding through this formula grant monitor residential treatment facilities and community based facilities for children and youth. More than 80 percent of the substantiated complaints handled through these systems result in positive changes for their clients.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

The Budget includes $102 million, an increase of $2 million, for the administration of SAMHSA programs and the support of national data collection efforts. These resources will enable SAMHSA to continue to support States, Territories, and local organizations through grant and contract awards and to provide national leadership in promoting the provision of quality behavioral health services.

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