International Guidelines for Estimating the Costs of Substance Abuse


Book Description

The International guidelines for estimating the costs of substance abuse presents a general framework for the development of cost estimates. A matrix of the types of costs to be considered is presented and there is a detailed discussion of the theoretical issues involved including: the definition of abuse determination of causality comparison of the demographic and human capital approaches to cost estimation the treatment and measurement of addictive consumption the treatment of private costs the measurement of intangible costs the treatment of non-workforce mortality and morbidity etc. Special considerations are discussed with regard to developing economies and drug-producing countries. The guidelines conclude with a brief discussion of future directions and the implications of these guidelines to research agendas and data collection systems.



















International guidelines for the estimation of the avoidable costs of substance abuse


Book Description

The process of estimating social costs involves estimating the relevant avoidable proportion of each of the cost categories and applying these proportions to each of the relevant aggregate cost estimates. [...] The objective of guidelines in this area of research is to provide the theoretical and data framework for the estimation of the avoidable costs of substance abuse. [...] The substance abuse-related burden of disease is composed of the mortality and morbidity attributable to the abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs and is one of the main underlying components in substance abuse- related social costs.




Calculating the Social Cost of Illicit Drugs


Book Description

Social cost estimates are potentially a valuable source of informing policy makers on the impact of prevention, treatment and law enforcement strategies. However, estimating the social costs of illegal drug use poses a methodological challenge, given the difficulty of quantifying the link between drugs and their negative consequences and in assigning a monetary value to items that do not have market value. This study presents methodological guidance on developing indicators to calculate the social cost of drug abuse, mainly through a "cost-of-illness" approach. The document also contains two case studies of research projects in France that have applied a social-cost analysis to the use of alcohol and tobacco, and to illicit drugs.







The social cost of legal and illegal drugs in Belgium


Book Description

Alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs and psychoactive medication (mis)use are associated with a higher likelihood of developing several diseases, (traffic) injuries and crimes. These substances reduce quality of life and increase the health care and law enforcement costs, productivity losses, etc. Consequently, the social and economic impact of substances on society is substantial. The SOCOST study estimates for the first time social costs for alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs and psychoactive medication in Belgium for the year 2012. This cost-of-illness study presents the direct costs, the indirect cost as well as the intangible costs related to substance (mis)use. This research was commissioned by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) in the framework of the Federal Research Programme Drugs. Two universities cooperated: Ghent University, Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy (IRCP) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Interuniversity Centre for Health Economics Research (I-CHER). The research was conducted under supervision of prof. dr. Freya Vander Laenen, prof. dr. Koen Putman, prof. dr. Lieven Pauwels, prof. dr. Wim Hardyns and prof. dr. Lieven Annemans.