Showing papers by "Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse published in 1998"

The economic costs of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs in Canada, 1992

Abstract: Aims, design and setting. The economic costs of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs to Canadian society in 1992 are estimated utilizing a cost-of-illness framework and recently developed international guidelines. Measurements. For causes of disease or death (using ICD-9 categories), pooled relative risk estimates from meta-analyses are combined with prevalence data by age, gender and province to derive the proportion attributable to alcohol, tobacco and/or illicit drugs. The resulting estimates of attributable deaths and hospitalizations are used to calculate associated health care, law enforcement, productivity and other costs. The results are compared with other studies, and sensitivity analyses are conducted on alternative measures of alcohol consumption, alternative discount rates for productivity costs and the use of diagnostic-specific hospitalization costs. Findings. The misuse of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs cost more than $18.4 billion in Canada in 1992, representing $649 per capita or 2.7% of GDP. Alcohol accounts for approximately $7.52 billion in costs, including $4.14 billion for lost productivity, $1.36 billion for law enforcement and $1.30 billion in direct health care costs. Tobacco accounts for approximately $9.56 billion in costs, including $6.82 billion for lost productivity and $2.68 billion for direct health care costs. The economic costs of illicit drugs are estimated at $1.4 billion. Conclusions. Substance abuse exacts a considerable toll to Canadian society in terms of illness, injury, death and economic costs.

The economic costs of illicit drug use in Ontario, 1992.

Abstract: The use of illicit drugs causes health and social problems which imply economic costs to society. This paper uses the cost-of-illness method, in particular, the human–capital approach to estimate the prevalence-based economic costs of illicit drug use in Ontario in 1992. This methodology is consistent with international guidelines formulated at the 1994 International Symposium on Economic and Social Costs of Substance Abuse. The economic cost of illicit drug use is estimated at $489.29 million (Canadian dollars) in 1992. Associated with these costs are health-related harms: 211 deaths, half of which occur before the age of 35; and 20 690 days stay in public hospitals. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The epidemiology of cocaine and opiate abuse in urban Canada.

Abstract: This study describes the epidemiology of cocaine and heroin abuse in urban Canada as part of an initial report on a national substance abuse surveillance system, the Canadian Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use Data pertaining to prevalence of use, law enforcement, treatment, morbidity and mortality of cocaine and heroin were obtained from the appropriate health and law enforcement institutions in six sentinel cities: Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax Cocaine and heroin appear to be more available in Vancouver than in the remaining cities In all CCENDU cities, large proportions of persons in treatment programs for substance abuse identified cocaine as their major addiction; however, there is considerable variation in treatment utilization regarding heroin Vancouver ranks first in terms of the per capita number of cocaine- and heroin-related hospital separations and mortality rate Cocaine abuse appears to be an emerging problem in Calgary, Winnipeg and Halifax, and opiate abuse appears to be an emerging problem in Calgary