State and local governments spent $7.6 billion to combat substance abuse disorders in 2009 — the latest year for which data is available — with most of that spending coming from public sources such as Medicaid and Medicare, according to a report. Researchers at the State Health Care Spending Project, a collaboration between The Pew Charitable Trusts and MacArthur, sought to examine the role states play in treating substance abuse to better understand the challenges states face in addressing the issue. The report found that more than 21 million Americans aged 12 and older had a substance abuse disorder in 2013, with only 18 percent of them receiving treatment.
