o spiral steadily to the present time. Currently the combined costs to society of drug and alcohol abuse are estimated at $246 billion, with those for drug abuse totaling $100 billion (Swan, 1998, 1). These costs represent an average of $383 dollars per person in the U.S. with respect to the impact of drug abuse. Drug abuse costs stem from a variety of costs associated with abusing drugs. Health costs, work-related costs, costs from crime and incarceration, and costs from welfare administration add up to a staggering total taken on American society from drug abuse. NIDA reports that the following developments since their previous calculation in 1985 are significant and have contributed to recent costs totals:
Increased availability of crack cocaine;
The spread of HIV and AIDS among injecting drug users;
Increasing numbers of people treated for alcohol abuse who also have drug abuse problems;
Increased availability of, and support for, substance abuse treatment, largely during the late 1980s;
Significant restructuring of health services for drug abuse; and
Expansion of scientific knowledge about drug abuse problems and their impact on society.
The costs to society of drug abuse basically include those related to health care and those related to crime and other costs. Law enforcement and incarceration costs have greatly increased due to drug abuse. Crime rates have declined or remained steady over the past fifteen years but criminal justice costs related to drug abuse have more than doubled in the same period. Health care expenditures have continued to spiral because of greater treatment and rehabilitation efforts aimed at curbing drub abuse. More than half of the nearly $10 billion spent on health care due to drug abuse was devoted to treatment, detoxification, and rehabilitation services (including prevention, training, and research), (Swan, 1998, 3).
Crime and criminal welfare costs greatly add to the...