Providing addiction treatment saves the state of Kentucky $10 million annually, or $4.98 for every dollar spent providing services, according to a new report from the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research at the University of Kentucky.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported July 16 that researchers who followed up with 906 participants in publicly funded treatment programs one year post-discharge found that they committed fewer crimes, made more money at work, and used less alcohol and other drugs.

"It suggests that treatment services not only benefit the individual but serve society at large," said study author Robert Walker.

Walker and colleagues found that 72 percent of the patients studied abstained from alcohol use during the past month, and 88 percent were abstinent from illicit drugs. Forty-seven percent had full-time jobs, compared to 29 percent prior to treatment, and 30 percent had been arrested, compared to 57 percent in the year before treatment.

"The study certainly supports moving toward more of a community-based treatment approach rather than incarceration," Walker said.

The state hasn't increased funding for its main addiction treatment providers in 12 years, however, and State Senate Judiciary Chairman Robert Stivers offered only a qualified endorsement for more funding. "We have to discern the profiteers from the individuals who are addicted," Stivers said.