The Costs of Alcohol, Illegal Drugs, and Tobacco in Canada, 2002
J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs 68: 886-895, 2007






The aim of this study was to estimate costs attributable to substance use and misuse in Canada in 2002.

Costs of substance use and misuse totaled almost Can. $40 billion in 2002. The total cost per capita for substance use and misuse was about Can. $1,267: Can. $463 for alcohol, Can. $262 for illegal drugs, and Can. $541 for tobacco.

Legal substances accounted for the vast majority of these costs (tobacco: almost 43% of total costs; alcohol: 37%).

Indirect costs or productivity losses were the largest cost category (61%), followed by health care (22%) and law enforcement costs (14%). More than 40,000 people died in Canada in 2002 because of substance use and misuse: 37,209 deaths were attributable to tobacco, 4,258 were attributable to alcohol, and 1,695 were attributable to illegal drugs. A total of about 3.8 million hospital days were attributable to substance use and misuse, again mainly to tobacco.

Substance use and misuse imposes a considerable economic toll on Canadian society and requires more preventive efforts.

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