Estimated Economic Costs of Alcohol Abuse 1983
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Costs
Types of Costs ($ millions)
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Core costs
Direct
Treatment[a] $13,457
Health support services 1,549
Indirect
Mortality[b] 18,151
Reduced productivity 65,582
Lost employment 5,323
Other related costs
Direct
Motor vehicle crashes 2,697
Crime 2,631
Social welfare administration 49
Other 3,673
Indirect
Victims of crime 194
Incarceration 2,979
Motor vehicle crashes 590
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Total $116,875
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SOURCE: SIXTH SPECIAL REPORT TO CONGRESS ON ALCOHOL AND HEALTH FROM THE
SECRETARY OF HUMAN SERVICES (January 1987), DHHS Publication No.
ADM 87-1519. Adapted from Harwood, H.; Napolitano, D.M.;
Christensen, P.L.; and Collins, J.J. ECONOMIC COSTS TO SOCIETY OF
ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE AND MENTAL ILLNESS, 1980. Report to Alcohol,
Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration by Research Triangle
Park, NC: Research Triangle Institute, 1984.
[a] For alcohol abuse and alcoholism, liver cirrhosis, other illnesses,
motor vehicle crashes, and other injuries.
[b] At 6 percent discount rate.
Information furnished by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism