The True Cost of Addiction
Plenty of people getting in drugs, or even full blown addiction, insist that taking drugs is a personal choice, and no one should interfere because it only affects them.
This is far from the case, there are so many far-reaching effects. Here I list just some of them:
Personal Costs
- Loss of production
- Loss of Health
- Loss of relationships
- Loss of years of life
- Loss of memory
- Loss of family members
- Loss of life
This may sound a little stark, but it is true. While addicted to drugs, the level of production is low. That means on a personal level, the morale will be low. Even if an addict does not overdose, long-term use of drugs does have a far-reaching effect on the body. As an addict continues down a dark road, relationships will be lost, whether this is friends, family or partners. If the addiction continues, it is not an overstatement to say that those years are lost to the individual. Loss of memory depends on the type of drug used, but at a minimum, those hours spent in a drunken or drugged stupor are not going to be the clearest!
Loss of family, if addiction gets very bad then children may be taken away by the council, or the bond torn apart due to violence or neglect. Loss of life is, of course, the worst-case scenario, but it happens too often and not just from overdosing.
Drunk driving, and operating equipment while under the influence of drugs can both result in a loss of life, and not just of the person on drugs.
Financial Costs
- Cost for our NHS
- Cost on the police service
- Cost for the legal system
- Cost of prisons
- Cost on business
- Cost on the council
- Cost on government addiction programmes
The cost for our NHS is spiraling out of control, at a time when it does not have the resources to deal with it. The NHS spends time and money helping drunk, high or overdosing people, or people with health problems caused by past drug abuse, especially with alcohol.
Cost to the police covers things like responding to calls due to violence, drug dealing, theft, and any sort of criminal acts connected to drugs.
Cost of legal fares, this can cover people who have been harmed by addicts, prosecution of drug related crime, and many other scenarios. The money that is spent keeping people in prison due to drug-related crime is enormous.
Cost to business, can be lost income due to non-producing staff, injury claims, theft, or property damage.
Cost to the council in any way, maybe helping the homeless, the addicts, the children of addicts, vast quantities can be spent when all individual cases are added together. Then there are government funded programmes like the methadone programme, where time, money and resources are spent on trying helping addicts.
Summary
These are just some of the costs of addiction. The true personal effects can never really be put down in words, and the vast sums spent worldwide on drugs, not even looking at the failed war on drugs, is staggering.
So next time you think about taking drugs, or see a loved one in that position, try and think of the true cost of that hit.
