Statement re: The Economic Costs of Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the United States: 1992 (NIAAA/NIDA Study Released 5/13/98)

National Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence
Wednesday, 13 May 1998

Right now Congress has two opportunities to significantly reduce the huge economic losses attributed to the use of alcohol and other drugs: it can pass the substance abuse treatment parity act, which would mandate nondiscriminatory insurance coverage for the treatment of alcoholism and other drug addictions, and it can stop hiding behind the cover of states rights and standardize the legal limit for driving at a blood alcohol content level of .08%.

Let's hope that the staggering health care costs associated with untreated alcoholism force the public and our policymakers to show as much concern for teenage drinking as they have for teenage smoking. Joe Camel may have been laid to rest but iguanas are still pushing beer like there's no tomorrow on television. What the iguanas aren't telling us is that the most likely cause of death for a 16-year-old in America is alcohol-related; that two out of three people convicted of driving while intoxicated had been drinking beer; and that one in five criminals locked up in our local jails had been drinking beer just prior to committing the offense.

For more information, or to contact National Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence, see their website at: www.ncadd.org