THE HIGH COST OF DRUG USE

A recent research report indicates that drug use in Canada is
exacting a heavy financial toll, nearly $40 million a year. A report
by a national addiction agency says the use of a variety of drugs,
legal and illegal, batter our economy and the users of alcohol and
tobacco incur the vast majority of total costs. The use of illegal
drugs results in about 20 per cent of the total amount.

Loss of productivity jumped out at the research team. In 2002, the
last year a full study was done, it was estimated at $24.3 billion,
followed by $8.8 billion in health care costs. Statistics show that
alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs account for 20 per cent of all
acute care hospital beds in Canada today. Law enforcement costs of
legal and illegal drugs was set at $5.4 billion, which represents
roughly half the cost of the entire criminal justice system.

The study, by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, takes into
account any cost to society caused by drug use, so it includes a wide
range of people, not just hard core addicts.

Jurgen Rhem, the study's principal investigator, said about 80 per
cent of people who drink alcohol cause no social cost, but that
leaves a large number of people causing huge costs. He said the cost
of substance abuse in Canada is significant and is on the rise. A
similar study a decade ago set the cost at about half what it is today.

"This is a wake-up call," Rhem said.

The largest component of the cost was linked to disability and
premature death, which accounted for 61 per cent of the total. In
terms of specific drug costs, tobacco was the most expensive, costing
$17 billion for the year studied while alcohol cost us $14.6 billion
and illegal drugs a further $8.2 billion. The study did not include
the private costs incurred by users of drugs in purchasing them or
revenue generated by the purchase of alcohol and tobacco which are
heavily taxed by government.

The report simply laid out the facts and offered no solution. It did
not suggest banning alcohol, and said we need to avoid a shotgun
approach and understand where the full costs lie. There are no simple
solutions, and simply legalizing a drug does not mean the problem will go away.