This article analyzes trends in substance abuse expenditures from 1986 to 2003.  Though substance abuse spending increased by $11.4 billion, US healthcare spending grew at a much larger pace causing substance abuse spending as a share of total health spending to drop from 2.1 percent to 1.3 percent over the 17 year period.   

Mark, T. L., Levit, K. R., Vandlvort-Warren, R., Coffey, R. M., & Buck, J. A. (2007). Trends in spending for substance abuse treatment, 1986-2003. Health Affairs, 26(4): 1118-1128. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.26.4.1118. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/26/4/1118 © 2007 by Project HOPE.

Authors: Tami L Mark, Katharine R. Levlt, Rita Vandlvort-Warren, Rosanna M. Coffey, Jeffrey A. Buck