The bottom line: Programs for alcohol and other drugs fared very well in the FY2001 appropriations process. The federal substance abuse block grant, administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), received an increase of $65 million, according to a report from Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America. Total block grant funding now stands at $1.665 billion.

Discretionary grant programs at the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) also received strong backing from Congress, with funding jumping from $215 million to $257 million.

A broad array of prevention programs received a total of more than $80 million in new funding in the FY2001 budget. The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's (CSAP's) discretionary grant funding was up $35 million, to $175 million, although this included $7 million from the former CSAP High-Risk Youth program, which was folded into the agency's other discretionary programs.

At the Department of Education, the mammoth Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (SDFS) program is slated to increase $45 million, to a total of $644 million. The increase was entirely earmarked for the national programs portion of SDFS, however; funding for state grants and SDFS coordinators remained flat at $439 million and $50 million, respectively.

The Drug Free Communities Act, which provides important funding for community-based anti-drug coalitions, was increased from $30 million to $40 million. But funding for another prevention-related program, the Office of National Drug Control Policy's media campaign, was flatlined. In 2001, ONDCP will again spend $185 million on public-service advertising aimed at preventing adolescent use of illicit drugs.

Many community coalitions also have relied on the assistance of the National Guard for prevention programming and other assistance offered via the Guard's counterdrug program. In FY2001, this program will be funded at $172 million, up a modest $4 million.

Federal lawmakers also made a major commitment to research, significantly boosting the budgets of both the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA). NIDA's budget, which has grown rapidly during the past decade, was approved at a FY2001 level of $781 million, up $94 million from last year. And NIAAA -- whose funding often lags behind that of its high-profile sister agency, will have $341 million to work with this year, up $48 million from FY2000.

For a detailed summary of all anti-drug funding across the federal bureaucracy, see the ONDCP website.