ATLANTA (AP) - The toll of excessive drinking works out to about $2 per drink, in terms of medical expenses and other costs to society, according to a new federal research.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study calculated societal costs from binge and heavy drinking beyond what consumers pay at the bar or liquor store. It's the first such federal estimate in more than a dozen years.
The study looked at costs that included _ among other things _ lost work productivity, property damage from car crashes, expenditures for liver cirrhosis and other alcohol-associated medical problems, and money spent on incarceration of drunk drivers and criminals using alcohol.
The CDC estimated excessive drinking cost society nearly $224 billion in 2006, the most recent year for which all necessary statistics were available. That worked out to about $1.90 per drink, 80 cents of which was spent by federal, state or local governments, the researchers estimated. The rest came from drinkers, their families, private health insurers, employers, crime victims and others.
Most of that was related to binge drinking, in which four or five alcoholic beverages are consumed on one occasion.
"Binge drinking results in binge spending," said CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden.
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3 comments:
Another bullcrap study to try and justify a big tax hike!
I don't understand where they get off making these claims!
They "claim" smokers cost X number of dollars in healthcare. That's a bunch of BS too!
I've smoked since I was 13 years old - now 50. In all those years, I've NEVER had to go to the doctor for a SMOKING RELATED ILLNESS!
Hello! Maybe I've been fortunate, but I think these people just reach out and try to grab whatever reason they can to tax/punish people.
Are these people SAINTS? I don't think so! But they sure do act like they are!
LEAVE US ALONE with all your BS studies! They're not accurate!
224 billion dollars a year from alcohol abuse??? I say leave those drug addicted alcohlics alone! Let's pour (forgive the pun) EVERYTHING we have into catching prosecuting and imprisoning all those lazy, stupid, no good, civilization destroying Presidents, Senators, police officers, college professors, lawyers, scientists, etc, who are disregarding all the people who know whats best for THEM by sitting around on their sofa smoking a joint. Yep. Those are some REALLY dangerous people. Just look at the last couple of Presidents. Pot will lead to a life of poverty, stupidity, and crime. You'll never amount to anything.`Its too scary to even think about for too long...another trillion dollars, several more million imprisoned Americans and another 50 years and we'll take care of this scum...
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