Читать книгу An Introduction to Testing for Drugs of Abuse - William E. Schreiber - Страница 16

The financial impact of drug abuse on a nation's economy is staggering. According to the Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs and Health, substance misuse and substance use disorders in the United States cost more than $400 billion per year in lost productivity, healthcare expenses, and the criminal justice system. A more recent appraisal by a provider of addiction treatment services raises that figure to $578 billion for the year 2016.

Figure 1.2 Costs of substance use in Canada in 2017. For each substance, the estimated cost is given (a) in billions of dollars and (b) as a percentage of the total cost. The costs attributable to healthcare, lost productivity, the criminal justice system, and other direct costs are indicated.

Source: Adapted with permission from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, 2021.

The overall cost of substance use in Canada in 2017 was estimated at $46 billion. This amount was attributed to lost productivity (43.5%), healthcare (28.4%), criminal justice (20.1%), and other direct costs (7.9%). Figure 1.2 shows the absolute and relative cost for each substance – more granular detail is provided on pages 8–10 of the report.