The misuse and abuse of alcohol and drugs can have various repercussions, not only on the people who do it and their families, but also on society as a whole. One of its main consequences is the financial burden. In addition to causing health complications and raising public safety concerns, alcohol and drugs cost the United States billions of dollars each year.
Like the impact, the economic cost of these substances varies greatly from place to place. In fact, the cost of alcohol abuse is relatively much higher than the cost of drug abuse in most counties in the US Given that studies related to the economic and social costs of alcohol abuse and the drugs are generally done at the state and national level, this allows to better assess the problems within their jurisdiction and propose countermeasures.
Similarly, a study, led by the author miller and conducted at the Pacific Evaluation and Research Institute Prevention Research Center, sought to uncover the consequences of alcohol and drug misuse in California and was published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (ACER).
Alcohol abuse cost California $129 billion in 2010
The study highlighted the revealing economic burden of alcohol and drug-related problems on California taxpayer dollars in all 58 counties and 50 midsize cities. Alcohol-related problems were found to be more prevalent and more costly than drug-related problems in California. Furthermore, both costs and impacts varied greatly from place to place. Some other findings are as follows:
- While alcohol-related problems cost $129 billion in 2010, or $3,450 for every Californian, drug-related problems cost $44 billion in the same year.
- The highest per capita cost ($7,819) of the alcohol problem was more than three times the lowest per capita cost ($2,588). Among counties with drug-related problems, the cost per capita ranged from $608 to $3,786.
- Rates of alcohol and drug-related problems were found to be higher in California cities. The highest per capita cost of alcohol-related problems in one city was $10,734, 11 times higher than the city with the lowest costs. Among cities, the highest per capita cost of drug-related problems was $7,159, nearly 19 times higher than the city with the lowest cost.
Consequently, the breakdown of costs related to alcohol and drugs is as follows:
- Crashes and accidents under the influence of alcohol cost $26 billion in 2010.
- Of the $10 billion cost due to violence associated with substance use, 73 percent was attributed to alcohol, while the remaining 27 percent was attributed to drugs.
- Of the $127 billion of expenses incurred due to other illnesses and injuries, 73 percent of the costs were due to alcohol-related problems. Similarly, 82 percent of the $4 billion cost incurred due to nonviolent crime was attributed to drug abuse.
- 74 percent of the $2 billion incurred due to treatment expenses was attributed to drug-related problems.
The study authors believe the findings can help policymakers and the state plan and allocate resources for substance abuse problems. Additionally, this study provides a crucial tool for predicting and warning of alcohol and drug-related problems, as well as a crucial means of plotting localized cost estimates.
According to Dr. Miller, “Efficient funding of substance abuse prevention, enforcement, and treatment depends on understanding the variation in alcohol and other drug problems from place to place. Because estimated costs Combining data from many health and social issues, they provide an effective approach and comprehensive and comprehensive measure to use in understanding how communities shape their distinctive social environments and to monitor the effectiveness of our intervention strategies.”
Avoid the death trap
In 2010, alcohol and drug-related problems in California caused 22,281 and 5,533 deaths, respectively. Additionally, alcohol and drug-related crimes were responsible for 350,000 and 164,000 deaths, respectively. These large and disturbing numbers pertain to just one of the 50 US states, indicating a much larger scale of the problem.
