The Economic Impact of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse
The Costs of Substance Abuse to Businesses, Consumers and Taxpayers
Dec 22, 2008
According to the new book “High Society - How Substance Abuse Ravages America and What to Do About It” by Joseph Califano (Public Affairs, April 2007), the cost of drug abuse has grown to approximately $1 trillion dollars per year to America.
Califano, former US Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, points out how substance abuse is a major causative factor in America’s most wrenching social problems. He shows that substance abuse is related to poverty, violent crime, academic underachievement, soaring health care costs, family breakup, child abuse, homelessness, teen pregnancy, work problems, and AIDS. He shows the costs of drug abuse in the nation’s criminal justice, health care, and social service systems, and states that this one epidemic is responsible for the death of more Americans than all America’s wars, natural catastrophes, and traffic accidents combined.
Some of the Costs
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Each baby born from a mother who drank alcohol or used drugs during pregnancy to the point of having a FAS or FADE baby, could cost up to $4 million in health care and specialized services over the course of a lifetime. The total cost to American taxpayers is estimated to be $1.9 billion/year.
- Underage Drinking: According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Control, the cost of underage drinking to society from accidents, crime, academic underachievement, etc., is $64 billion per year.
- Emergency Room Visits: According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network, in 2006 there were 1,742,887 emergency room visits which were alcohol or drug related. While costs vary, drug related E.R. visits alone may cost society $4 billion.
- College Drinking: According to “Binge Drinking on College Campuses” (Center for Science in the Public Interest, December 2008), in 2005 there were approximately 7.2 million college binge drinkers, and 2.3 million heavy drinkers. This leads to 1,700 alcohol/drug related college deaths each year, 599,000 student injuries, 696,000 student assaults, 400,000 student incidents of engaging in unprotected sex, and some 70,000 instances of sexual assault. One estimate was placed at $80,000 per college just due to alcohol related vandalism.
- Criminal Justice System Costs: According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), it was estimated that of the $38 billion spent on corrections in 1996, more than $30 billion was spent incarcerating individuals who had alcohol or drug problems or committed alcohol or drug related crimes.
- Impaired Employees: In “Employer Costs of Alcohol Related Injuries” (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, Zaloshnja, Miller, Hendrie, and Galvin, Wiley-Liss. Inc., December 22, 2006), the annual employer cost of alcohol-related injuries to employees and their dependents was reported at $28.6 billion.
- DWI Costs: Driving While Intoxicated continues as a horrendous problem throughout the country. According to “The High Cost of Drunk Driving” (Russell Weisman, Article Alley, January 5, 2006), the cost to society from D.W.I. in 2001 was estimated at $230 billion tax dollars due to highway DWI collisions.
The Total Costs
Every day 1,500 people die from alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and thousands more are admitted into hospitals, psychiatric facilities, jails and prisons or divorce court. The magnitude is staggering, and according to Califano drug abuse costs approximate $1 trillion per year. This does not even begin to measure the human costs in pain and suffering and lost lives.
Alcohol and drug abuse have reached epidemic proportions in America. Crime, violence, divorce, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, organic brain syndrome, school problems, job problems, mental health problems, family problems, financial problems, etc., are all consequences of alcohol and drug abuse as it ripples throughout society. All these consequences have financial costs. This means that all businesses, consumers, and taxpayers are affected, and all must pay more due to the negative consequences of abuse.
References
The Impact of Substance Abuse on State Budgets
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