The Economic Consequences of Opioid Addiction in America

eathing (Kuhn et al., 2014). The death of a user and the emotional cost on families
and friends that lose someone to a heroin overdose needs to be included in the overall
societal costs of opiate use. Opiate overdose is a major threat to anyone who chooses
to use them and the frequency of overdoses is shocking. One study of approximately
1,000 heroin users found that about 73 percent of them had witnessed at least one
overdose and 14 percent of them had witnessed an overdose resulting in death
(Davidson et al., 2002).
Besides the risk of overdose there are other serious health risks associated with opiate
use, especially injectable heroin usage. Studies have found that heroin addicts are more
likely to engage in unprotected sex with others, often in exchange for heroin, and many
addicts also share needles which substantially increases their risk of spreading HIV and
hepatitis (Kuhn et al., 2014). The health risks associated with opiate use, and especially
heroin use, include a very real risk of overdose resulting in death along with the risk of
contracting life-altering health problems like HIV and hepatitis. In fact, a heroin user is
20 to 60 times more likely to die prematurely than a non-heroin user (Blom Nilsson,
Lundgren, & Chassler, 2014). While these risks are substantial they are largely, but not
entirely, private and individual. However, there are other costs that affect society as a
whole.
Since the inception of the “war on drugs” the number of people incarcerated in
American prisons increased exponentially (Sevigny, Pollack, & Reuter, 2013).
Imprisoning so many people for drug related crimes may have seemed like a good idea
in an attempt to slow the negative effects of drug addiction and the drug trade, but
eventually there needs to be an honest evaluation of these policies to see how they
meet the desired goals. In analyzing the rampant incarceration of people for drug crimes
a cost-benefit analysis should be conducted.
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