Economic consequences of drug abuse

Drug abuse inflicts immeasurable harm on public health and safety around the world each year, and threatens the peaceful development and smooth functioning of many societies. An understanding of the economic costs of drug abuse is necessary to develop policies that reduce such costs. Attempts to calculate the global monetary burden of drug abuse, however, are mired in data limitations in the many areas that must be taken into account to arrive at even a rough estimate of the total global cost of drug abuse. Analysis of the economic consequences of drug abuse must account for expenditure associated with policy choices and take into consideration any gains and externalities. Although accounting for the full, real dollar costs of drug abuse worldwide is challenging, analysing its consequences and understanding the domains it affects helps us to gain a clearer picture of the ways in which drug abuse affects the world.

Related Subject(s): Drugs Crime and Terrorism