The Cost of Drug Abuse to Society

Just as it isn't really possible to accurately estimate the costs of Drug abuse in terms of lives ruined, diminished capacities and lost dreams,

it is impossible to put a dollar figure to the immense waste of resources and potentials that drugs exact from the peoples of Earth today.

A recent guess from NIDA, (National Institute on Drug Abuse), said $143 billion in only one year in the US alone. That comes to a cost of more than five hundred dollars for every man woman or child in the country each year.

Think drug use doesn't hurt anyone? Think again.

It's sometimes hard to see the damage that drugs cause---there's drug Addiction, of course, but there's a whole lot more. The families, the medical system, the environment. Innocent kids, caught in the crossfire. Drivers killed or injured by those under the influence. Babies found at meth labs, their toys covered with chemicals. Victims of terrorists, whose acts are financed with drug profits.

Over 26,000 individuals died from drug-induced causes in the United States in 2002, seven times more than those killed in all of the September 11 attacks. Direct costs include those for drug treatment, health care, costs of goods and services lost to crime, law enforcement, incarceration, and the judicial system fees. Indirect costs are those due to the loss of productivity from death, human suffering, drug abuse-related illnesses and crime and all the victims of crime.

Most people affected by drugs aren't users--but they pay the price...and so do you. And when people choose to use, they are not just hurting themselves. Drug use isn't a victimless crime, although many people want you to believe that. Where do you think the money for a bag of Marijuana goes? Or for a kilo of Heroin? Or a gram of Cocaine?

Where do you think the chemicals used in meth labs go once they are discarded? Where do they take the babies whose parents get sent to prison for manufacturing? Who pays to take care of these kids?

And what about you---do you mind sharing the road with a drugged driver? Do you want your little sister or brother riding on a school bus while the driver's high on drugs?

Toll Free: 888-9NO-DRUGS or 888-966-3784

Definitions of Terms Used

Term	Description
Addiction	Strong physiological, emotional and/or psychological dependence on a substance such as alcohol or drugs that has progressed beyond voluntary control. For more on addiction see the section Addiction Information in this website.
Cocaine	A highly addictive stimulant drug derived from the cocoa plant that produces feelings of euphoria. Also see Crack.
Drug	Any substance, other than food, that changes the function or structure of the body or mind when ingested. Drugs essentially are poisons. The degree they are taken determines the effect. A small amount acts as a stimulant. A greater amount acts as a sedative. A larger amount acts as a poison and can kill one dead. This is true of any drug. Each has a different amount at which it gives those results.
Drug abuse	The use of illegal drugs or the inappropriate use of legal drugs. The repeated use of drugs to produce pleasure, to alleviate stress, or to alter or avoid reality - or all three.
Heroin	The potent, widely abused opiate that produces a profound addiction. It consists of two morphine molecules linked together chemically.
Marijuana	A psychoactive drug made from the leaves of the cannabis plant. It is usually smoked but can also be eaten. See Cannabis.