BOOZE, DRUGS TAKE A TOLL ON THE ECONOMY

Nunavut Pays Highest Price For Policing, Health Care Related To Substance Abuse

A national study of the cost of unchecked tobacco, booze and drug
abuse has found that Nunavut pays the highest price per capita when
substance abuse is left unchecked.

The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse found that the total cost per
person of substance abuse in Nunavut is $2,184 per year.

That's not just the cost of buying booze, drugs and cigarettes. In
fact, that's not included in the study at all.

The CCSA attempted to calculate the costs to society of untreated
abuse. To do that, they added up the cost of health care and police
work that is directly related to substance abuse.

Then they calculated the cost of lost productivity - that is, the
amount of work lost, either because people are ill and taking days
off, or because otherwise healthy people die sooner because of booze,
drugs and tobacco.

Health care and policing costs are higher in Nunavut than elsewhere,
so it makes sense that Nunavut's costs exceeded other regions by a
wide margin. In Ontario, the estimated cost to society was only
$1,185 per person.

But the numbers also point to a high amount of untreated substance abuse.

That rings true to Insp. Paul Young, the acting commander of the RCMP
"V" Division in Nunavut, who estimates about 75 to 80 per cent of all
calls to the police have some connection to substance abuse.

"It's often a factor in domestic violence, it's often a factor in
break and enters, it's often a factor in just disturbing behavior," Young said.

"Generally, it's almost everywhere we look."

The study is not quite scientific, so the numbers should be looked at
carefully.

Estimating the cost of substance abuse is a fairly new phenomenon
that has only been happening in Canada since 1996. Since then, the
methodology for estimating these costs have changed so much that the
report's authors caution against comparing the numbers.

The report does provide a snapshot of the costs that many may not
realize are related to smoking, booze and drugs. It could help
governments or politicians make treating substance abuse a more
urgent priority, and can also help governments measure the
effectiveness of programs they do launch, by comparing the current
costs with future costs.

Health care is the biggest direct cost of substance abuse, the report
said. That includes emergency care, psychiatric care, specialized
treatment, ambulances (and medevacs), doctors' fees, visits to
doctors and drugs prescribed to treat substance abuse problems.

Law enforcement is the second biggest cost. That includes the cost of
dealing with drunk or high partiers who commit crimes, as well as the
costs of crimes committed in order to pay for booze and drugs. Court
and prison costs were also included.

Lost productivity is an indirect result of substance abuse, but is
even more expensive. The study estimates the cost of people dying
young, or being unable to work, and adds up the loss of the wages and
salaries - or unpaid work, such as childcare or odd jobs - as a cost
to society.

This study calculated the aggregate costs of substance abuse - that
is, the external costs of substance abuse, compared to the cost of
not having the substance abuse in the first place. Other similar
studies sometimes look at the "avoidable" costs; in other words, the
costs that could be avoided if the right policies and treatment
programs were in place.

A full copy of the report is available from the CCSA website at www.ccsa.ca.