The Costs of Substance Abuse in Canada 2002 updates the milestone 1996 report on the economic impact of tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs.
In 1996, a partnership of CCSA and a number of federal and provincial organizations, released the first-ever comprehensive estimate of the social costs of substance abuse in Canada.
The 1996 study was made possible by the development of reliable cost estimation guidelines (International Guidelines for Estimating the Costs of Substance Abuse) through a process coordinated by CCSA involving national and inter-provincial cooperation. Initially released by CCSA, the Guidelines were published in a second edition by the World Health Organization in 2003 and have been widely disseminated.
In 2003, Health Canada funded CCSA to develop a research proposal for an updated substance abuse cost study. A federal/provincial partnership was established to direct the second Canadian substance abuse cost study. The Costs of Substance Abuse in Canada 2002 was released in April 2006. The cost study was guided by a steering committee composed of representatives of government, addiction agencies, private industry and academia.
The Costs of Substance Abuse in Canada 2002 estimates the total cost of substance abuse in Canada to be $39.8 billion, which represents a cost of $1,267 to each individual Canadian.
The study reveals that:
- Legal substances (tobacco and alcohol) account for almost 80% of the total cost of substance abuse (79.3%); illegal drugs make up the remaining 20.7%;
- Tobacco leads the way with a cost of $17 billion (42.7%);
- Alcohol accounts for $14.6 billion (36.6%); and,
- Illegal drugs account for $8.2 billion (20.7%).