News Article:
Drug Abuse Costs to Society
NIDA Infofact
A study prepared by The Lewin Group for the National
Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism estimated the total economic cost of ALCOHOL
and DRUG ABUSE
to be $245.7 billion for 1992. Of this cost, $97.7 billion* was due
to DRUG ABUSE. This
estimate includes SUBSTANCE
ABUSE TREATMENT
and prevention costs as well as other healthcare costs, costs associated
with reduced job productivity or lost earnings, and other costs to society
such as crime and social welfare. The study also determined that these
costs are borne primarily by governments (46 percent), followed by those
who ABUSE DRUGS
and members of their households (44 percent).
The 1992 cost estimate has increased 50 percent over
the cost estimate from 1985 data. The four primary contributors to this
increase were (1) the epidemic of heavy cocaine use (2) the HIV epidemic
(3) an eightfold increase in state and Federal incarcerations for DRUG
offenses, and (4) a threefold increase in crimes attributed to DRUGS.
More than half of the estimated costs of DRUG
ABUSE were associated with DRUG-related
crime. These costs included lost productivity of victims and incarcerated
perpetrators of DRUG- related
crime (20.4 percent); lost legitimate production due to drug-related
crime careers (19.7 percent); and other costs of DRUG-related
crime, including Federal DRUG
traffic control, property damage, and police, legal, and corrections
services (18.4 percent). Most of the remaining costs resulted from premature
deaths (14.9 percent), lost productivity due to DRUG-related
illness (14.5 percent), and healthcare expenditures (10.2 percent).
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP)** conducted a study to determine how much money is spent on
illegal DRUGS that
otherwise would support legitimate spending or savings by the user in
the overall economy. ONDCP found that, between 1988 and 1995, Americans
spent $57.3 billion on DRUGS,
broken down as follows: $38 billion on COCAINE,
$9.6 billion on HEROIN,
$7 billion on MARIJUANA,
and $2.7 billion on other illegal DRUGS
and on the misuse of legal DRUGS.
* This estimate includes illicit drugs and other drugs
taken for non-medical purposes. It does not include nicotine.
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