On Thursday, January 25, NASADAD Executive Director Robert Morrison served as a speaker during a meeting held by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) as NASEM has been charged with the drafting of a “…a blueprint, including specific, actionable steps for building and sustaining an infrastructure for delivering prevention interventions targeting risk factors…” for mental health and substance use disorders (SUD). The Blueprint, when completed, is set to include best practices for creating a sustainable prevention infrastructure; funding needs and strategies; specific research gaps germane to the widespread adoption of evidence-based prevention interventions; and actionable recommendations.
Morrison spoke of the current role State alcohol and drug agencies play in managing the SUD prevention system and the infrastructure States utilize to support programs and manage prevention work. NASADAD then observed that the SUD prevention sector is severely underfunded at both the State and federal levels – reviewing, for example, the budget for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) in 2003 was approximately $200 million and the budget today – 20 years later – is $236 million. An effort to bolster our prevention infrastructure is welcome and sorely needed given the lack of funding. NASADAD suggested that the Blueprint should leverage current State and federal structures – including State alcohol and drug agencies and SAMHSA/CSAP – as opposed to creating entirely new entities at the State and federal levels.
A recording of the presentation and more details about NASEM’s project can be found here.