Communities That Care Featured as a Cost-Effective Prevention Program in NIDA Director’s Blog

“While investment in prevention doesn’t show immediate returns, playing the long game and investing in prevention interventions can save lives and dollars.”
–Dr. Nora Volkow

In light of the current addiction and overdose crisis in the United States and the limited public funds for addressing this crisis, NIDA Director Nora Volkow, MD, recently pointed to the importance of effective treatment and prevention measures with demonstrated cost effectiveness.

Volkow highlighted SDRG’s Communities That Care system. “Communities That Care is … a structured approach that helps communities utilize their resources most effectively to address identified risk factors for substance use, aggression, and other problems in youth. One recent analysis showed that an approximately $602 investment in each child (adjusted to 2017 dollars) had yielded an estimated $7754 in savings by the time participants were age 23—a $12.88 return for each dollar invested. The researchers estimated that those savings were distributed among individuals/families themselves, taxpayers, and other stakeholders. The return was well over twice as great when the downstream economic benefits of completing college—more likely among those receiving interventions—was factored in.”

You can read the entire blog post here: https://nida.nih.gov/about-nida/noras-blog/2022/04/investing-in-prevention-makes-good-financial-sense