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Tallying the cost of methamphetamine abuse

The following material was generated by the Rand Corporation -- a non-profit research group -- in 2005. While the numbers and amounts may be slightly outdated, they are the latest available and offer at least a solid estimate of how much meth costs the country.

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The total: $23.4 billion

This amount is based on estimates from a variety of sources and includes both actual out-of-pocket expenses and the price of premature death, child abuse and other variables. Researchers took a middle-ground approach to the estimate, noting it could actually be as high as $48.3 billion.

The total adjusted for inflation:

2005 dollars

2011 dollars

The breakdown:

SEGMENT	Cost (millions)
Drug treatment	$545.5
Health care	351.3
Intangibles/premature death	16,624.9
Productivity	687.0
Crime and criminal justice	4,209.8
Child endangerment	904.6
Production/environment	61.4
Total	23,384.4

TREATMENT EXPENSES	Costs (in millions)
Hospital-based treatment	$4.9
Specialty treatment sector	491.2
Total for community-based treatment	506.1
Federally provided specialty treatment
Dept. of Defense	0.2
Indian Health Service	24.4
Federal Bureau of Prisons	5.7
Veterans Administration	9.1
Total for federally provided treatment	39.4
Total cost of drug treatment	545.5

HEALTH CARE	Costs (in millions)
Meth-induced hospital stays	$27.1
Meth-involved hospital stays-incremental only	14.3
Suicide attempts	14.2
Emergency department visits	45.9
Health administration	249.8
Total	351.3

HOSPITAL EXPENSES	(real dollars)
Fetal dependence	$426,756
Neuropathy	20,677
Meth-induced psychosis	9,938,985
Infections	1,400,6075
Injury-mental health-drug screen	125,126
Injury-poisoning	1,569,863
Total	27,057,567

FOSTER CHILD CARE	Costs (millions)
Foster care	$402.8
Medical-mental health-quality of life	501.8
Total	904.6

OTHER MISC..	Costs (in millions)
Suicide attempts	$14.2
Emergency room costs	45.9
Lost productivity (absence etc.)	686.9
Lost income due to loss of job	62.5
Lost income due to incarceration	305.3
Cost to jurisdictions for meth arrests	892.5