For many drug addicts and alcoholics, the road to a full recovery is long. There may be one or more relapses, and even more addicts do not seek help until their addiction becomes life threatening or altering. In the meantime, jail and medical costs are sky high with the personal costs being that much more. It will benefit not just the person suffering from addiction, but society as a whole, to lower drug rehab costs and make recovery possible for everyone.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, addiction to drugs and alcohol cost tax payers seven hundred forty billion dollars in costs relating to crime, Healthcare, and lost work productivity each year. Drug rehab costs are at a lower cost on tax payers since the rehabilitation will reduce the risk of recidivism that will be less of a burden on the criminal justice system in the long term. Law enforcement resources will then be able to more adequately fight violent crime, and jails will not be overcrowded like they are now. Healthcare costs will decrease for the addict which will reduce stress related recidivism.
The first thing that needs to happen is to get rid of the stigma related to drug and alcohol addiction. It is not something that only the poor, homeless, and other so called undesirables gothrough. In fact, the upper class youth have taken a more liberal stance on experimenting with drugs, so addiction and drug related deaths are on the rise in areas once seen as untouchable. Even in countries where the possession can result in the death penalty, youth who have been educated abroad have become more open minded in experimenting with drugs and are at a high risk of returning to their home countries fully addicted. For them, the drug rehab costs will be higher than in counties that have a more liberal stance on addiction since the only treatment is death in the more conservative countries.
The first step in reducing drug rehab costs is to keep up with youth trends in the acceptance of drug use on a recreational level. If people feel safe in asking for help, it will lower the overall cost that addiction has on society as a whole.
