The state of Oregon, which has long struggled with one of the worst drug-addiction crises in the US, last year announced $20m in grants to help connect people to substance-use services.

The funds, the governor and lawmakers said, would go to counties to support a “treatment first” approach, encouraging jurisdictions to get drug users into recovery programs, instead of arresting and jailing them.

Some local governments, however, have spent the taxpayer-funded grants to beef up law enforcement.

Budget documents obtained by the Guardian through public records requests reveal that several counties have put the money toward hiring prosecutors, acquiring police gadgets and police vehicles, and covering sheriff costs. Washington county, the state’s second-largest jurisdiction, budgeted twice as much of its funds for police and district attorney salaries as it did on community programs, while two other counties used the money for laser devices that are meant to detect drugs but have been criticized as useless.