Cost Substance_abuse

1 cost

1.1 europe
1.2 uk
1.3 united states

cost

policymakers try understand relative costs of drug-related interventions. appropriate drug policy relies on assessment of drug-related public expenditure based on classification system costs identified.

labelled drug-related expenditures defined direct planned spending reflects voluntary engagement of state in field of illicit drugs. direct public expenditures explicitly labeled drug-related can traced exhaustively reviewing official accountancy documents such national budgets , year-end reports. unlabelled expenditure refers unplanned spending , estimated through modeling techniques, based on top-down budgetary procedure. starting overall aggregated expenditures, procedure estimates proportion causally attributable substance abuse (unlabelled drug-related expenditure = overall expenditure × attributable proportion). example, estimate prison drug-related expenditures in given country, 2 elements necessary: overall prison expenditures in country given period, , attributable proportion of inmates due drug-related issues. product of 2 give rough estimate can compared across different countries.

europe

as part of reporting exercise corresponding 2005, european monitoring centre drugs , drug addiction s network of national focal points set in 27 european union (eu) member states, norway, , candidates countries eu, requested identify labeled drug-related public expenditure, @ country level.

this reported 10 countries categorized according functions of government, amounting total of eur 2.17 billion. overall, highest proportion of total came within government functions of health (66%) (e.g. medical services), , public order , safety (pos) (20%) (e.g. police services, law courts, prisons). country, average share of gdp 0.023% health, , 0.013% pos. however, these shares varied considerably across countries, ranging 0.00033% in slovakia, 0.053% of gdp in ireland in case of health, , 0.003% in portugal, 0.02% in uk, in case of pos; 161-fold difference between highest , lowest countries health, , 6-fold difference pos. why ireland , uk spend in health , pos, or slovakia , portugal little, in gdp terms?

to respond question , make comprehensive assessment of drug-related public expenditure across countries, study compared health , pos spending , gdp in 10 reporting countries. results found suggest gdp major determinant of health , pos drug-related public expenditures of country. labelled drug-related public expenditure showed positive association gdp across countries considered: r = 0.81 in case of health, , r = 0.91 pos. percentage change in health , pos expenditures due 1 percent increase in gdp (the income elasticity of demand) estimated 1.78% , 1.23% respectively.

being highly income elastic, health , pos expenditures can considered luxury goods; nation becomes wealthier openly spends proportionately more on drug-related health , public order , safety interventions.

uk

the uk home office estimated social , economic cost of drug abuse uk economy in terms of crime, absenteeism , sickness in excess of £20 billion year. however, uk home office not estimate portion of crimes unintended consequences of drug prohibition (crimes sustain expensive drug consumption, risky production , dangerous distribution), nor cost of enforcement. aspects necessary full analysis of economics of prohibition.

united states

these figures represent overall economic costs, can divided in 3 major components: health costs, productivity losses , non-health direct expenditures.

health-related costs projected total $16 billion in 2002.
productivity losses estimated @ $128.6 billion. in contrast other costs of drug abuse (which involve direct expenditures goods , services), value reflects loss of potential resources: work in labor market , in household production never performed, reasonably expected have been performed absent impact of drug abuse.


included estimated productivity losses due premature death ($24.6 billion), drug abuse-related illness ($33.4 billion), incarceration ($39.0 billion), crime careers ($27.6 billion) , productivity losses of victims of crime ($1.8 billion).


the non-health direct expenditures concern costs associated criminal justice system , crime victim costs, include modest level of expenses administration of social welfare system. total 2002 estimated @ $36.4 billion. largest detailed component of these costs state , federal corrections @ $14.2 billion, operation of prisons. $9.8 billion spent on state , local police protection, followed $6.2 billion federal supply reduction initiatives.

according report agency healthcare research , quality (ahrq), medicaid billed higher number of hospitals stays opioid drug overuse medicare or private insurance in 1993. 2012, differences diminished. on same time, medicare had rapid growth in number of hospital stays.