SUBSTANCES ALSO ABUSING OUR FINANCES

Canada Could Save $8.8 Billion Annually If People Didn't Drink, Smoke
And Take Illegal Drugs

OTTAWA | Dependency on tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs costs
Canadians $40 billion annually.

Of this, $8.8 billion is directly related to health-care expenditures.

In its new report, The Costs of Substance Abuse in Canada 2002, the
Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) assessed the burden of
addiction in terms of its direct impact on health care and criminal
costs, and its indirect toll on productivity resulting from
disability and premature death.

The CCSA found that tobacco accounted for $17 billion or 42.7% of the
total $40 billion estimate, alcohol accounted for about $14.6 billion
(36.6%) and illegal drugs for about $8.2 billion (20.7%).

Productivity losses amounted to $24.3 billion or 62% of the total,
while health-care costs were $8.8 billion (22.1%). The third highest
contributor to total substance-related costs was law enforcement,
with a cost of $5.4 billion or 13.6% of the total.

The CCSA published the first Canadian cost study in 1996 based on
1992 data. The total cost of substance abuse was then estimated to be
$18.5 billion. Authors of the report, however, caution against making
direct comparisons, as cost estimation methods have evolved since then.