The Economic Consequences of Opioid Addiction in America

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States budget so much money for corrections and prisons that it is second only to the Medicaid budget, and those numbers do not even include the cost of correctional employee salaries, benefits, or inmate hospital care (Henrichson & Delaney, 2012). That budget amount is astronomical and spending that much money on a particular program is only acceptable if the results are meeting the desired goals of the program. The average annual cost of housing an inmate varies greatly from state to state but the numbers range from $14,000 to $60,000 (Henrichson & Delaney, 2012), a cost that demands that the government determine if incarceration is working. If the goals of incarcerating people for drug related crimes is to reduce drug crime recidivism, make safer communities, or reduce drug overdoses then incarceration is a miserable failure. More than 46,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2013 and places like Denver have seen a 600 percent increase in heroin overdoses in the last five years (Drug Enforcement Administration, 2015; CBS Denver, 2015). Heroin addicts have also consistently been found to participate in a higher proportion of criminal activity outside of the crimes specific to drug possession than other drug users, and typically the more an addict uses the more crime they commit (Gordon et al., 2013; Blom Nilsson et al., 2014; Hucklesby, 2010). The cause for this is likely multifaceted but is probably related to the strength of the addiction that causes the addicts to be motivated to do nearly anything to obtain their next dose and also heroin addict’s propensity for risky behavior. There are obvious costs of opiate use and addiction that negatively affect the health of addicts and the happiness of family and friends of addicts along with negative consequences for society that include a high cost of inmate incarceration, the risk of serious disease and illness, and the risk of crime that is associated with heroin use. Evaluating the traditional criminal justice system methods along with the treatment options for opiate addiction is necessary to determine the most effective method for achieving the goals of drug law. Criminal Justice System Methods There are primarily two ways that the traditional criminal justice system addresses drug crimes; the traditional judicial procedure consisting of hearings and trials, and also drug courts. The traditional jurisprudence system is concerned with enforcing the law and punishing those who break the law. Traditional law enforcement against drug offenses is not only motivated by a desire to affect change with regards to drug usage but also by a desire to decrease risky behavior often associated with drug users (Hucklesby, 2010). As explained above, drugs and drug users are often involved in crime that extends beyond the drug offense and the war on drugs created tough policies and sentences that often gave drug offenders longer prison sentences than before. It would be unfair to say that the traditional criminal justice methods in drug crimes does not value drug treatment or rehabilitation but that is definitely not the primary focus. The traditional court setting sees rehabilitation as one of many goals and not as the primary function (Hucklesby, 2010). In addition, traditional court settings often have a zero Page 58 of 159
tolerance policy during any probation or drug treatment program when the offender relapses and is found to have used drugs during that time period. That policy that has come under scrutiny by proponents of drug treatment programs as ignoring the difficulty in quitting heroin in such an abrupt manner (Hucklesby, 2010). Drug treatment programs are different than the traditional judicial outcome because drug courts view rehabilitation as an intrinsic and primary goal (Hucklesby, 2010). Based on the differences between drug courts and traditional court it can be seen that traditional court still views its primary means to stop drug crime as deterrence. There is no other reason to extend prison sentences and take a tougher attitude on those convicted of drug crimes if the goal is not to deter future drug usage. The problem is that this goal has not ever been attained by the policies of the war on drugs and there is no reason to think that suddenly the same policies and sentences will start being successful. The drug court programs in the United States are relatively new but now enough research and literature examining their efficacy exists to make a judgment one way or another about their ability to achieve the goals of the justice system as they relate to drugs. Drug courts began in the 1980’s when studies began to show that drug treatment programs were effective even if the programs were not voluntary (Hucklesby, 2010). This means that the initial research on drug courts found that even when drug treatment was court ordered and not sought out by the drug offender there was still some benefit in the treatment. Some opponents of drug courts claim that the cost of drug treatment programs are too expensive and that there is too high of a dropout or failure rate by the offenders (Hucklesby, 2010). Research shows that those concerns do not seem to be warranted. For example, some studies on the efficacy of drug courts find a 14 percent drop in drug offender recidivism compared to traditional court settings (Hucklesby, 2010). Seeing a 14 percent reduction in drug offender recidivism is a significant benefit especially if the cost is lower than typical incarceration costs. It is true that drug treatment programs can be expensive but compared to the average cost of typical Page 59 of 159
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Turning the Improbable Into the Exc
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Page 8 and 9: 6. 1 We disseminate Quarterly publi
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Page 16 and 17: The White House says the true cost
Page 18 and 19: o Something that makes these number
Page 20 and 21: Data from the CDC analyzing opioid
Page 22 and 23: President Donald Trump has declared
Page 24 and 25: Criminal Justice The U.S. spent nea
Page 26 and 27: The study also found that reduced e
Page 28 and 29: NSC initiative. “And so today, we
Page 30 and 31: Employer ‘cost calculator’ help
Page 32 and 33: Some 4.3 million people say they’
Page 34 and 35: The Opioid Crisis Spills Into The W
Page 36 and 37: And there's no guarantee that new h
Page 38 and 39: The Substance Use Cost Calculator l
Page 40 and 41: "It is showing up in the cost of he
Page 42 and 43: Statistics, 15.3%, 14.9%, and 28.4%
Page 44 and 45: eceptors in the body to relieve pai
Page 46 and 47: 2017, the US Department of Health a
Page 48 and 49: found that 25% to 66% of deaths wer
Page 50 and 51: justice reform, and (6) overdose re
Page 52 and 53: Economic Burden of Opioid Epidemic
Page 56 and 57: Vicodin. Billy stated he liked it b
Page 60 and 61: incarceration drug treatment progra
Page 62 and 63: supposed to lessen opiate cravings.
Page 64 and 65: ________ Heroin and Opioid Policy C
Page 66 and 67: We can stop the pipeline from presc
Page 68 and 69: In addition to being underfunded, M
Page 70 and 71: funding for and access to Medicatio
Page 72 and 73: Invest in local, state, and regiona
Page 74 and 75: Sharon Wegscheider (USA) has pointe
Page 76 and 77: In an airplane, if the oxygen masks
Page 78 and 79: Community or Informal Screenings an
Page 80 and 81: Devon reported, however, that the m
Page 84 and 85: As a local government administrator
Page 86 and 87: an opioid overdose. Drug overdose a
Page 88 and 89: For those with children - should yo
Page 90 and 91: 4. Healthcare system resource utili
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Page 94 and 95: programs from competitive groups of
Page 96 and 97: Resources Policy & Additional Infor
Page 98 and 99: AFBF Annual Convention Panel Discus
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Page 102 and 103: The imposition of a tax will certai
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During that period, the reduction i
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Previously, three widely cited stud
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While there are many reasons the pr
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Applying Krueger’s research sugge
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2002 $49.6 $6.8 $11.5 $18.3 2003 $5
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As many of the costs are borne by s
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Why are whites experiencing a more
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IX. References 1. https://www.ameri
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Notes _____________________________
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The Underestimated Cost of the Opio
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mitigate. While there are a number
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and a maximum of $8.9 million (both
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group, fatality rates were much hig
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1) and non-fatality costs are $72.7
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References Aldy, J. and Viscusi, W.
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Viscusi, W., and C.J. Masterman. 20
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Combatting the Opioid Epidemic 2019
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Pain Medicine 2011; 12: 657-667 Wil
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Societal Costs of Prescription Opio
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Attachment D Healthcare Costs from
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TOP 10 STATES: TOTAL HEALTH CARE CO
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DISCUSSION The $25 billion estimate
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Advocacy Foundation Publishers Page
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Issue Title Quarterly Vol. I 2015 T
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Issue Title Quarterly Vol. V 2019 O
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LI Nonprofit Confidentiality In The
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Vol. XVIII 2032 Public Policy LXXVI
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Racial Profiling June 2019 Mass Col
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The e-Advocate Journal of Theologic
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Issue Title Quarterly Vol. I 2015 I
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The e-Advocate Juvenile Justice Rep
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2018 - The Theological Law Firm Aca
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www.TheAdvocacyFoundation.org Page
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