A blue-ribbon panel convened by Oklahoma's governor and attorney general has put on paper what advocates have been telling policymakers for years: investing in addiction, mental-health, and domestic-violence services can save taxpayers billions of dollars each year.

The task force last month issued a 31-page report, "Task Force Recommendations: Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence in Oklahoma" (PDF), that details $8 billion in "hard" and "soft" costs associated with untreated, under-treated, and unserved addiction, mental health and domestic violence. The groups also makes five key recommendations for addressing what the panel called "an escalating health and public-policy crisis which, if not dealt with soon, will deepen in both intensity and gravity."

The task force called for:

• making prevention, early intervention, treatment, and recovery-support services available to those in need
• identifying people in the criminal-justice system with addictions and major mental illnesses soon after their entry, with referrals to more cost-effective programs to treat, monitor, rehabilitate, and supervise these populations
• establishing minimum state standards for mandatory training of addiction, mental-health, and domestic violence service-providers
• increasing the number of trained professionals and paraprofessionals working in these fields
• further study of the needs of offenders and others in custody who need addiction and mental health services, as well as improved data collection on sexual assault.

The report estimated direct costs (defined as cash expenditures directly or indirectly caused by behaviors related to mental illness, substance abuse and/or domestic violence) total $3.4 billion annually, while indirect costs (the economic impact of lost productivity due to premature death, incarceration and other reduced productivity through failure to complete education and training programs) totaled $5.5 billion. "We've known for a long time that this is costing us far more not to deal with it," said Jeff Dismukes, director of communications and public information for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

Direct costs alone amount to $1,000 for every Oklahoman, Dismukes noted. In the past, advocates were sometimes criticized for citing "fluffy" numbers when arguing for a policy shift toward treatment and prevention, he said, but the task-force report seems to be changing some minds.

"We've gotten a fairly positive reaction to [the report]," he said. "Many people didn't realize it was that bad. It's making a difference in the legislature because we are able to point to these numbers ... We don't have to reprove anything. The information is down there; now, let's go forward."

Dismukes predicted that the report would carry some weight with state lawmakers since it bears the imprimatur of both Gov. Brad Henry and Attorney General Drew Edmonson. "The legislature has been very supportive of us over the past few years," he said. "The state budget has shrunk, but they've mostly held us harmless."

Supporters of the task-force recommendations hope they can accomplish many of the goals by reallocating existing resources, particularly within the a criminal-justice system increasingly overburdened by demand for space and services. "They can't keep going the way they're going, and they know it," said Dismukes.