Addictions to tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs cost the Canadian economy close to $40 billion a year, according to a survey released last week by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA). Describing substance abuse as a "significant burden" on the economy, Canada's national addictions agency says this figure, based on data from 2002, represents a cost of $1,267 to each individual Canadian.
"Clearly, Canada needs to rethink the way we look at alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug use," says CCSA CEO Michel Perron. "The status quo is not an option here."
Tobacco addiction, at a cost of $17 billion, accounts for 42.2 percent of the total amount, while alcohol dependency costs reach 14.6 billion, or 36.6 percent. Illegal drug use costs the economy $8.2 billion, up substantially since the last study 10 years ago. The group says drug-attributed deaths more than doubled between 1992 and 2002, largely because of an increase in drug overdoses and the spread of hepatitis C.
"The problematic use of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs is negatively impacting Canadians in three areas which are of high importance to our country — our healthcare, our justice system, and our place in the world," says Perron.
The CCSA pegs the per-year cost to healthcare at $8.8 billion, with alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug abuse accounting for 20 percent of all acute care hospital stays—amounting to two out of every 10 beds in the hospital. This puts a "significant strain" on an already over-taxed health system and directly impacts wait times, says Perron.
Although smoking is still the greatest killer with 37,209 deaths, the study says that tobacco use has been stable or falling, possibly as a result of improved tobacco control legislation introduced in the last two decades. 17,679 of the smoking-related deaths resulted from cancer, 10,853 from cardiovascular disease and 8,282 from respiratory disease.
The study attributes 4,258 deaths to alcohol, including 1,246 deaths from cirrhosis, 909 from vehicle crashes and 603 as a result of drinking-related suicides. The 1,695 deaths from illegal drugs include 958 from overdoses, 295 from suicides, 165 from hepatitis C and 87 from HIV infection related to drug use.
The CCSA says the annual cost for law enforcement including police, courts and correctional facilities is $5.4 billion—about 50 percent of the total justice budget in Canada. The report also estimates over $24.3 billion in productivity losses related to illness or premature death is attributable to substance abuse.
"This is a significant amount of money being siphoned from our economic engine and it directly impacts our ability to be more productive as a nation," says Perron.
The study didn't take into account the amount Canadians spend on cigarettes, alcohol and illegal drugs, or government revenue collected from taxes on tobacco and alcohol. The CCSA said that where they could have used "different assumptions" to estimate costs, they routinely adopted the most conservative approach.
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