Drug use in Canada costs $4.6 billion and kills 75,000 people annually.

Bruce Deachman

The cost of drug use by Canadians reaches nearly $46 billion annually, slightly more than $1250 per capita in the country. In 2017 alone, Canada had 275,000 hospitalizations and nearly 75,000 deaths, according to newly released numbers.

The Canadian Centers on Drug Use and Addiction released its latest Canadian Drug Use Costs and Hazard Report on Tuesday, focusing on healthcare and criminal justice costs, and costs associated with lost productivity, and Canadian alcohol use. Other factors resulting from the use of substances such as tobacco, opioids, cannabis and cocaine were investigated.

Reports covering 2015-17 show that alcohol and tobacco are the most economically damaging, accounting for $16.6 and $12.3 billion respectively, or nearly 63% of the total cost. The third was followed by $6 billion (12.9 percent) of opioids, followed by cocaine ($3.7 billion, 8.1 percent), cannabis ($3.2 billion, 7.0 percent), and other central nervous system depressants and stimulants, respectively. Accounting for the latter pair about $2 billion.

Meanwhile, productivity losses associated with both premature death and short-term and long-term disability accounted for the largest portion of Canadian substance use costs, at $20 billion, or 43.5% of the total. Healthcare came in at $13.1 billion (28.4%), followed by criminal justice costs ($9.2 billion, 20.1%), federal research funding, fire and motor vehicle damage, workplace drug testing and employees. Other direct costs such as-support programs ($3.6 billion, 7.9%).

Overall, the average cost of one Canadian from drug use in 2017 was $1,258, about 3% higher than in 2015. Also, the improved method used in the new report, compared to CCSA’s previous 2007-14 report, isn’t accurate, but the cost per person is 20 compared to 10 years ago. Nearly% increase (all 2017 dollar figures).

However, this increase does not span all substances. The costs associated with opioids have risen slightly above 20% to $163 per person. The cost of CNS stimulants, including amphetamine and methamphetamine (excluding cocaine), has also increased to $54 per person.

The costs associated with alcohol consumption also rose by 1.6% to $455 per person, but the economic burden of tobacco use actually decreased by about 5% to $336 per person. ..

According to CCSA scientist Matthew Young, the reduction in costs associated with tobacco use, the research leader in this report, is an indicator of investment made by public health agencies to signal tobacco harm.

“The same doesn’t always apply to alcohol,” he adds. “In many respects, alcohol is becoming more widely available, allowing industry self-regulation, and losing policy control, especially for alcohol marketing and advertising online.

“We are not investing in public health interventions designed to reduce alcohol usage as much as in tobacco, and the data show this.”

A similar downward trend is seen in at least some of the numbers surrounding opioid use and costs. The cost and harm of opioid use have risen sharply, but the prevalence of those who use it has dropped from 13.6% in 2015 to 11.7% after two years of the population who reported using opioids. ..

“When you look at usage, the main indicator is usage over the past year. So there is an effective public health messaging and prescription monitoring program, and a better education for doctors to avoid prescription opioids for chronic pain conditions. Yes, all of these kinds, but at the same time, the harm tends to focus on smaller groups of people, and among those groups, the harm is increasing.”

But perhaps the most important trend is the cost and harm associated with the use of cocaine. After steadily reducing costs from 2007 to 2014, the cost of using cocaine increased significantly over the next three years to $102 per person in 2017.

“This is in line with the many reports we get from people working in harm mitigation and police enforcement,” says Young. “It was diminishing as many people thought cocaine was really dirty and there were many pollutants.”

By state, Ontario has the lowest per capita cost of drug use in Canada, at $1,235. Nunavut and Northwest Territories, with high alcohol and tobacco consumption and high medical costs, were up to $5,608 and $4,045, respectively (you can’t have the “meaningful per capita” cost of Yukon and Quebec). I didn’t, the report calculates).

Still, Ontario’s drug use-related health care costs are among the lowest in Canada ($344 per person, compared to the national average of $386), and productivity losses are second lowest (compared to the national average of $548). The lowest price in Quebec was $368), and the state’s criminal justice cost was the highest at $268 (the national average was $253).

In the meantime, costs and harms continue to change, and due to factors such as COVID-19 where effects have not been fully clarified (eg, early rises in alcohol consumption appear to be significantly more stable) and legalization. However, that should lead to reduced criminal justice costs.

“But the question some people are asking is if there is a commensurate increase in health-related costs.” Ask Young. “I don’t have the same doubts because there aren’t many conditions related to cannabis.”