THE COST OF ADDICTION

There Is A Real Dollar Value Attached To Our Woes

The cost of addictions in our society is evident in our everyday
lives. We see families torn asunder by helpless dependency on
everything from alcohol to drugs to gambling or even pornography. We
witness the fallout, we may even experience the addictions ourselves;
it is our collective "dirty little secret" that we all share but fail
to really deal with because of the stigma attached to the admission.

We mostly all agree that the price of addiction is high, but a new
report attempts to attach an actual dollar figure to the problem.

Using an elaborate extrapolative formula that follows the money and
the problems, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse suggests that
dollar figure is a whopping $40 billion a year.

A sweeping report to be released today, Costs of Substance Abuse in
Canada 2002, says national strategies are urgently needed to curb
alcohol and illicit drug problems -- much as tobacco was targeted.

While concerted efforts by governments and health lobbyists have
lowered smoking rates over the last decade, tobacco use still exacts
an alarming toll, says the report.

The study finds that direct health-care costs of substance abuse in
2002 neared $9 billion, mostly due to overdoses, accidents and
related illness. That's more than what was spent on cardiovascular
disease ($7.3 billion) or cancer ($2.7 billion).

It pegs 27 per cent of all acute care beds in the country as the
responsibility of drugs, tobacco and/or alcohol.

Some other points of interest in the report.

* Eighty per cent of the yearly $39.8-billion economic drain can be
blamed on legal substances -- alcohol and tobacco. Illegal drugs such
as marijuana, heroin, cocaine and crack account for 20 per cent.

* Smoking accounts for $17 billion of the total costs, or 42.7 per cent.

* Alcohol-related costs reached $14.6 billion, 36.6 per cent of the
total. More Canadians are now downing at least five drinks at a time.

* Alcohol was blamed for 4,258 deaths in 2002, mostly from liver
disease, drunk driving and alcohol-related suicides.

* Illegal drugs accounted for $8.2 billion, or 20.7 per cent of the total.

* Reported substance abuse was uniform across Canada except for
higher rates of illegal drug use in B.C., tobacco on the East Coast,
and higher costs for related treatment in the territories.

Especially in an affluent society and community such as we have in
Grande Prairie -- where wages are generally high and thus disposable
income is as well -- we must begin to recognize more directly, all
the costs of addiction. We know the social fallout and now we are
being told the financial effects.

To mitigate both will require a concerted effort of government and
community to kick the habit. And the first step is to support
programs that allow those with addictions in our midst to heal
publicly without the Sword of Damacles that is stigma hanging over head.

Without the proper opportunity to heal with dignity and self respect,
addictions are especially tough to beat.

So if we as a society yearn to really win this battle, the first step
is a long one -- a leap of faith -- that needs taking.

- --With files from CP