The Costs of Methamphetamine Use
It isn’t any surprise that drugs cost all of society. Whether it is in additional law enforcement, health care costs or judiciary system costs, to name just a few, this is one area of unnecessary expenditures that continue to bleed the hardworking people of the country with no end in sight.
According to a release in Science Daily, the United States faced an economic cost of methamphetamine use of $23.4 billion in 2005. This cost included the burden of addiction, premature death, drug treatment and other impacts from the drug use. These findings are based on a RAND Corporation study that is the first to put together a comprehensive national assessment of the costs of this particular drug in the U.S.
"Our findings show that the economic burden of methamphetamine abuse is substantial," said Nancy Nicosia in the Science Daily. Nicosia is the study's lead author and an economist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.
While methamphetamine presents interesting challenges and causes unique harms to the user, the study determined that many of the primary issues associated with the drug and its uses were similar to those of other illicit drugs. The economic impact – or the way the drug impacts the rest of the country financially – is much the same.
According to the RAND analysis, nearly two-thirds of the economic costs associated with methamphetamine use were the result of the burden of addiction. An estimated 900 premature deaths occurred among users in 2005. To measure the burden of addiction, researchers quantified the impact of the lower quality of life experienced by those addicted to the drug.
Other costs include criminal justice expenses, lost productivity, the expense of removing children from a home with addicted parents, and the costs associated with the production of methamphetamine. When a production site is found, it is common for emergency personnel and other victims to suffer injuries. Costs are also incurred in the clean up of the hazardous waste.
"Estimates of the economic costs of illicit drug use can highlight the consequences of illegal drug use on our society and focus attention on the primary drivers of those costs," Nicosia said. "But more work is needed to identify areas where interventions to reduce these harms could prove most effective."