Drug users 'costing £9,741 a year'
Updated on 26 November 2009
Heroin and crack users are costing their families and partners more than £9,741 a year in lost pay, theft and financial support, a report claims.
They also spend an extra £450 a year on extra healthcare costs, either for themselves or their drug using relative.
And the burden borne by family members of people with drug problems saves the NHS and other state services £3,935 a year for each user, the UK Drug Policy Commission said.
The UKDPC claims that with an estimated 1.5 million adults supporting or caring for a problem drug user in the UK, affected families are shouldering a financial burden of £1.8 billion every year.
If they did not provide that support, estimates the report, it would cost the state an extra £750 million annually.
The report estimates the cost of helping a drug user with food, rent, healthcare and even money for drugs, often stolen by the user without the family's knowledge.
They are also, the report states, shelling out by paying off debts and funding detox programmes.
Time off work to care for a drug using relative or sick leave because of the impact on families own health is also hitting their pockets.
The study claims that the costs could be far higher as they fail to take into account factors such as the long-term psychological effects on families or the wide-ranging impact on siblings or children.
The 12-month study found that, of the 1.5 million adults, about 50,000 were living with a crack or heroin addict, one million will be helping a loved-one with cannabis problems and nearly 130,000 will be caring for a family member dependent on cocaine.
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