DRUG ABUSE COST STAGGERING

Editor:

I am writing to correct an error in your recent Black Press story
('Cities told to target meth programs,' June 21).

In that article it states that "while the economic impact of
substance abuse costs Canadians an estimated $6 billion annually, 75
per cent of the costs of drugs and alcohol on society are due to legal drugs."

The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) issued a report this
year, the only national cost report available, on the economic
impacts of substance abuse.

The annual cost per year is actually $39.8 billion per year, with
legal drugs - tobacco and alcohol - accounting for 79.3 per cent of the costs.

I assume the statistics were taken from this cost report, so I wanted
to correct the error if possible.

Brooke Bryce

Communications Advisor

Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA)

Ottawa