The economic cost of drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse in the United States is more than $500 billion per year. Effective substance abuse prevention can yield major economic savings, with every $1 invested in prevention saving between $10-20 in treatment costs. Research shows preventive interventions are most economically beneficial when the condition is prevalent and costly, effective interventions exist, and intervention costs are low.

1. Ignoring Drug and Alcohol Prevention Is Costly The economic cost of drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse in the United States is more than $500 billion per year. Drug, alcohol and tobacco use cost schools throughout the country an EXTRA $41 billion per year in truancy, violence, disciplinary programs, school security and other expenses. http://www.drugabuse.gov/Infofacts/treatmeth.html http://www.health.org/govpubs/prevalert/v5/5.aspx

2. Cost/Benefit For Prevention Prevention Yields Huge Savings Effective substance abuse prevention can yield major economic dividends. For every dollar invested in prevention between $10.00 to $20.00 can be saved. For every dollar invested in prevention, there is a $10.00 savings in treatment. Aos et al. 2001; Spoth et al. 2002a). Spoth, R., Guyll, M., & Day, S. X. (2002). Swisher, J.D., Scherer, J. and Yin, K. (October, 2004). The Journal of Primary Prevention. “ Cost-benefit estimates in prevention research.” 25:2.

3. What the Research Shows…