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UK's illegal drug habit 'costs society £110 billion'

25/02/2008

Illegal drug use in the UK has cost society £110 billion in the past ten years, according to the drug and alcohol treatment charity Addaction.

It claims that the cost of drug-related crime has risen to £100 billion, with a further £10 billion attributable to health costs.

In 2007 these costs reached £16.4 billion, with each person remaining dependent on illegal drugs costing the country around £44,000 per year.

Addaction says just three per cent of total spending on tackling drug-related behaviour in the past ten years went to tackling drug addiction in the UK and warns that the current budget for drug treatment is set to fall by ten per cent over the next three years.

But the charity estimates that if 100,000 people could move into a drug-free life this alone would save £4.4 billion.

Its report comes ahead of the release of the government's new ten-year plan on drugs later this week.

"Illegal drug use is costing the UK taxpayer £16.4 billion a year, which is more than one and a half times the cost of holding the Olympic Games in 2012," said Addaction chief executive Deborah Cameron.

"Many of the millions spent by the government on dealing with the consequences of the illegal drugs trade could be recovered if drug users were given a better route out of a life dependent on drugs.

"We have to ensure drug users get help but also a roof over their head and the chance of a job or training."