In June 2018, the Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms Scientific Working Group released the results of a significant new study in a comprehensive technical report, Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms (2007–2014). The report presents estimates of the economic costs and harms of substance use in Canada for the years 2007 to 2014
Bibliography: Economics
Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms in the Provinces and Territories (2007–2014) PDF
The aim of this document is to provide these detailed costs so that researchers, decision makers and others can use them to inform policies and programs at the provincial and territorial levels (CCSA)
The lost decade
Neglect for harm reduction funding and the health crisis among people who use drugs (Harm Reduction International)
Europe’s legal cannabis market set to become worth more than €115 billion
A new report “European Cannabis Report” from industry advisors, Prohibition Partners, suggests that Europe will become the largest legal cannabis market in the world once all countries have introduced legislation and regulation during the next 10 years (Manufacturing Chemist)
How illegal drugs sustain organised crime in the EU (PDF)
Drug markets remain the largest criminal markets in the EU. More than one third of the criminal groups active in the EU are involved in the production, trafficking or distribution of various types of drugs (Europol, Belgium)
The human and financial costs of drug addiction
This is an expansive subject, with a huge number of facets, and is covered by a huge amount of UK and international data. Transcript of debate (House of Commons, UK)
Global Synthetic Drugs Assessment (PDF)
Amphetamine-type stimulants and new psychoactive substances (UNODC)
Evaluation of the Drugs and Alcohol Recovery Payment by Results Pilot Programme Final Report (PDF)
Findings in this report from the process evaluation have been subject to RAND Europe’s interim quality assurance review. The report was completed in September 2015 and is based on data collected up to March 2014 (National Drug Evidence Centre)
Financial case for action on liver disease (PDF)
Escalating costs of alcohol misuse, obesity and viral hepatitis (Foundation for Liver Research)
EMCDDA Budget 2017
The EMCDDA receives stable funding under Commission budget line B3-441 of the general budget of the European Union. Each year, a preliminary draft budget is presented by the Centre’s Director to the Management Board, which may modify the draft before adopting it and submitting it to the European Commission. The Commission, in turn, makes its recommendations (which may again alter the draft) and presents the result to the European Council and Parliament
Public expenditure on supply reduction policies
This report takes a first step towards a systematic analysis, by examining a set of representative attempts to estimate public expenditure on supply reduction interventions (EMCDDA)
Public expenditure on supply reduction policies
Although it is mainly confined to supply reduction expenditures, in order to set the context, it describes the proportion that total drug-related expenditure represents of national public spending and; presents the balance between demand and supply reduction spending for a number of European countries (EMCDDA)
Police diversion for cannabis offences: Assessing outcomes and cost-effectiveness
This study compared the cost-effectiveness and outcomes of three kinds of diversions—cautions, expiation and warnings—with the traditional criminal justice system response of charging the offender (AIC)
Australian methamphetamine user outcomes (PDF)
This paper examines the demographics of methamphetamine users and their employment, education and health outcomes using data from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia program, the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services data collection and the National Prisoner Health Data Collection (Australian Institute of Criminology)
Design of optimal corrective taxes in the alcohol market (PDF)
We estimate a model of demand in the UK alcohol market and numerically solve for the optimal tax rates. Moving to an optimal system that taxes alcohol types at different rates would close half of the welfare gap between the current UK system and the first best (Institute for Fiscal Studies)
Splitting the bill: alcohol’s impact on the economy (PDF)
Economic questions are central to the formation of alcohol policies, such as the setting of alcohol taxes, licensing requirements and marketing regulations (Institute of S Alcohol Studies)
The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control
This monograph, a collaboration between the National Cancer Institute and WHO, examines the current research and evidence base surrounding the economics of tobacco control—including tobacco use, tobacco growing, manufacturing and trade, tobacco product taxes and prices, and tobacco control policies and other interventions to reduce tobacco use and its consequences (WHO)
DrugScope library archive
Wellcome Institute
Cheap alcohol: the price we pay (PDF)
Research released today shows there is an abundance of high strength alcohol sold for pocket money prices in shops and supermarkets across the UK. Press Release (Alcohol Health Alliance, UK)
Colombia: Drugs and the Peace Agreement
On August 24th, after more than four years of negotiations, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a peace agreement that will, pending a referendum on October 2nd, bring to an end more than sixty years of armed conflict (Global Drug Policy Observatory)