The Opiod Crisis continues to kill our citizens at an alarming rate, but our spending allocations in the new 2020 budget don't add up.

Has anyone else looked at this budget? I am throwing this out there to my friends (as ultimately I consider people regardless of belief system).

Can someone explain the logic behind what I see in the President's proposed budget?

My understanding of the message from POTUS has been "America First." Let others help pay for their own defense and end silly wars and bring our troops home. I agree with most of that.

The 2020 Budget request for Defense is $718 Billion. This is a 5% increase over 2019.

Deaths within the military - take a look at this website https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/IF10899.pdf

Thanks God deaths have gone down significantly in the last couple of years in combat.

The DoD shows a significant amount of deaths of soldiers are from substance abuse.

Opioid Crisis: ~ 70,000 Deaths in 2018

Opioid Crisis: The budget plan does propose some new funding to fight the opioid crisis, including $245 million over 10 years to let states “extend Medicaid coverage for pregnant women with substance use disorder to one year postpartum.” But it also proposes cuts to some opioid-related programs, particularly at the Department of Justice. At best, the budget maybe adds some tens of millions a year to address the problem.

I am trying to understand why Defense Budget needs to actually go up as opposed to putting more money into fighting the epidemic that is an enormous threat domestically.

The Opioid epidemic does not discriminate. It hurts every aspect of our economy and society.

I am being sincere when I ask, Can someone explain why we have chosen to allocate our precious dollars this way?