A recent report by the U.S. Department of Justice's National Drug Intelligence Center, entitled The Economic Impact of Illicit DrugUse on American Society, placed the annual national cost of illicit drug use in the United States at a staggering $

Question

193 billion. That total includes costs from three areas. Define those three areas and describe how they impact economy social issues.

Answer 1

1) Justice system expenditures needed to deal with the consequences of illegal drug use. Justice-system-related expenses include money spent on incarcerating drug offenders, on state and local drug-abuse-related police protection, on jails for holding drug offenders prior to trial, and on the adjudication of drug offenders.
2) Health care costs include money spent on emergency room care, ongoing medical treatment for drug-abuse-related illnesses and dependence, psychiatric institutionalization, and hospitalization. A major component of health care costs related to drug abuse consists of spending on care for HIV/AIDS patients and hepatitis patients whose infections are directly attributable to drug-related activities.
3) Lost productivity include six components: labor participation costs, specialty treatment costs for services provided at the state level, specialty treatment costs for services provided at the federal level, hospitalization costs, costs of incarceration, and premature mortality costs.