Total federal government expenditures for antidrug activities have become a centerpiece in the national debate on drug policy. The rapid growth in that total was a major indicator of the extent of federal government commitment to dealing with what was perceived to be the most prominent social problem in the late 1980s. Even more importantly, the allocation of that budget--between supply-control programs on the one hand and treatment and prevention on the other--is perhaps the most widely cited piece of evidence that the United States is committed primarily to law enforcement as the principal element of its drug policy. Given the prominent role that federal budget figures have come to play in the policy debate, it is noteworthy that few have paid any attention to their origins.

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