CADCA has reviewed the recently released Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 President’s Budget Request (PBR). The PBR represents the President’s vision and funding priorities for all federal programs. It is a recommendation to Congress with Congress having the ultimate power and authority to authorize changes to Executive Branch agencies and to appropriate federal funds. Proposals in the PBR do not represent final numbers appropriated for federal programs. Congress must pass, and the President must sign, appropriations bills into law before any funding amounts can be considered final.  

The PBR re-proposes many of the same substantial cuts, program consolidations, and agency reorganizations from last year. Similar to last year’s PBR, many programs would either be eliminated or moved to the new Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), proposed as a new operating division in HHS.  

According to the PBR, “… [the] AHA Budget consolidates and streamlines chronic care and disease prevention programs across the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and several centers and programs of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) creating a more coordinated and efficient structure to serve to serve all Americans, particularly low-income, rural, and medically underserved individuals.”   

AHA would impact programs in the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Details on the proposed cuts and other changes in the FY 2027 PBR to the substance use prevention infrastructure are below. 

ONDCP 

• The Drug-Free Communities (DFC) program is proposed to be moved from ONDCP to AHA and funded at only $70 million ($39 million less than the FY 2026 appropriated amount of $109 million). 
  • This proposed decrease in funding is a reduction of 36% from FY 2026. This could drastically scale back the national reach of the DFC program. 
• The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) Section 103 enhancement grant program’s funding to current and former DFC grantees to do more with more intensity around opioid and stimulant issues is proposed to be totally eliminated  (-$5.2 million). 
• The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program is proposed to be moved to the Department of Justice and funded at $196 million ($102.5 million less than the FY 2026 appropriated amount of $298.579 million). 

САМСА

The PBR proposes to cut a number of SAMHSA’s Programs of Regional and National Significance (PRNS) across the three SAMHSA centers, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) and the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS). 

CSAP 

The PBR proposes to decimate CSAP. 

• The following CSAP programs would be eliminated: 
  • The Strategic Prevention Framework/Partnership for Success (SPF/PFS) grant program (-$137.484 million). 
• The Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking (STOP) Act programs (-$14.5 million). 
  • Enhancement Grants to current and former DFCs to do more with more intensity around underage drinking (-$11 million) 
  • National Adult-Oriented Media Campaign (-$2.5 million) 
  • Interagency Coordinating Committee for the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) (-$1 million) 
• Tribal Behavioral Health Grants (-$22.665 million) 
• Minority AIDS Initiative (-$43.2 million) 
• Strategic Prevention Framework – Prescription Drugs (SPF-Rx) (-$10 million) 
• Minority Fellowship Program (-$1.3 million) 

The only programs previously located in CSAP and now proposed to be funded and moved to AHA are: 

• The Prevention Technology Transfer Centers (PTTCs) funded at the FY 2026 final appropriated level of $9.5 million. 
• The Federal Drug-Free Workplace Program funded at the FY2026 final appropriated level of $5.139 million 
• The Science to Service program funded at the FY 2026 final appropriated level of $4.072 million 

CSAT 

• Programs of Regional and National Significance (PRNS) are proposed to be funded at $490.202 million, a proposed cut of $74.017 million and would be moved to AHA. 
• A new block grant called the Behavioral Health Innovation Block Grant would be re-proposed that combines all of the funding from the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Services (SUPRTS) Block Grant (funded at $2.008 billion in FY 2026), the State Opioid Response (SOR) Grants (funded at $1.595 billion in FY 2026) and the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) Block Grant (funded at $1.012 billion in FY 2026). The total amount of the proposed newly combined block grant would be $4.520 million ($95.239 million less than the FY 2026 total of the three separate programs). 

CMHS 

• CMHS would receive $769.243 million, a cut of $295.190 million compared to the FY 2026 final appropriated level of $1.064 million, and moved to AHA. 

CDC 

• The CDC’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Programs would be eliminated (-$246.5 million). 
• CDC’s opioid overdose prevention work formerly in the Center for Injury Prevention and Control is moved to AHA and funded at $505.579 million (the same amount appropriated in FY 2026). 
• CDC’s Excessive Alcohol Program was eliminated (-$3 million).  

Заключение 

The FY 2027 appropriations process is still months away from being finished and the numbers discussed here are not final.  

CADCA has already met with key appropriators to thank them for fully funding our field and not accepting the proposed cuts, consolidations and agency re-organizations included in last year’s FY 2026 PBR.  

CADCA will keep the field fully informed throughout the remainder of the FY 2027 appropriations process.