Meth abuse cost United States about $23 billion in 2005, study finds

Press-Enterprise

The economic cost of methamphetamine abuse in the U.S. — including the cost to jail users, put addicts through treatment and clean up meth labs — was about $23 billion in 2005, according to a new study.

The findings are surprising given how little attention meth use has received in anti-drug campaigns compared with other drugs, such as cocaine and marijuana, wrote the authors of the study, which was conducted by the RAND Corp.

“Obviously, the next step is to look into prevention efforts, enforcement efforts,” said Nancy Nicosia, the study’s lead author and a RAND economist.

Meth, sometimes known as “speed,” “ice” and “crank,” is a highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. It can be smoked, inhaled or injected.

The RAND study was the first attempt to do a national assessment of the costs associated with meth use. Researchers looked at data from 2005 because it was the most recent year for which data needed to do the estimate was available.

According to the study, one big portion of the costs associated with meth use — $4.2 billion — is related to crimes committed by meth users to feed their habits and the cost of sending them through the criminal justice system.

A 2001 study estimated the cost of heroin addiction in the U.S. in 1996 at $21.9 billion.