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Drug Control
"Prevention is better than cure" is an age-old and time-tested maxim. It has been proved correct in many different situations. None more so than in the area of drug abuse: it being far easier and more cost effective to prevent drug use than drug treatment. This essay explains why drug treatment is far more expensive than drug prevention.
A study by the Lewin Group for the National Institute on Drug Abuse estimated the total economic cost of alcohol and drug abuse in the U.S. was $245.7 billion for 1992. ("NIDA InfoFacts" 2005) This includes productivity losses (losses from premature death, drug abuse-related illnesses), health costs, and other, primarily crime-related, costs such as losses due to incarceration and criminal careers. If we consider a hypothetical case in which we prevent all alcohol and drug abuse in the United States, we would theoretically save $245.6 billion.
On the other hand, by treatment of drug abuse only, we can at best hope to save only a small fraction of the total amount. This too, only if we assume that the cost incurred on treatment of drug abuse...
The obvious difference is due to the fact that treatment of drug users occurs after some economic cost to the society has already occurred while prevention nips the "evil" in the bud and prevents the potential cost from occurring in the first place.
The magnitude of expenses involved in prevention and treatment of drug abuse is reflected in the U.S. government's budget and spending for such programs. For example, President Bush's 2003 budget included $19.2 billion in anti-drug spending. Out of this $644 million were for federal prevention programs that promoted drug-free schools and communities and $180 million were for advertisements on the hazards of drug use among youth. On the other hand, the U.S. government spending on treatment and related research was $3.8 billion. (Keen, 2002) If we include the effectiveness of "parental guidance" that helps to prevent the youth from using drugs into our equation, the cost-effectiveness of "prevention" increases manifold since such parental counseling is often done…
References
"Alcohol and Drug Services Study (ADSS) Cost Study." (2004). The DASIS Report. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved on August 27, 2005 from http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k4/costs/costs.htm
'NIDA InfoFacts: Costs to Society." (2005) National Institute on Drug Abuse. Retrieved on August 27, 2005 from http://www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/costs.html
Keen, Judy. "Bush Plans Hit on Drug Abuse" (2002). USA Today. Retrieved on August 27, 2005 from http://www.usatoday.com/educate/ondcp/lessons/Activity5.pdf
The 1992 cost estimate had increased 50% over the cost estimate from 1985; hence the current economic cost due to drug abuse must be much higher.
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