Watch above: Addictions cost Saskatchewan about one-billion dollars yearly in lost productivity, health care. Dr. Colleen Anne Dell spoke with Joelle Tomlinson about the impact on society.
SASKATOON – Addictions cost Saskatchewan around one-billion dollars a year and for the country, the figure is closer to 40-billion dollars a year. That’s according to Dr. Colleen Anne Dell, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Substance Abuse at the University of Saskatchewan.
“When you look at Canada, it’s $17-billion for tobacco, $15-billion for alcohol and $7 (billion) for illicit drugs,” she told Global News. “I don’t think people realize what an impact it does have,” she said. “That is things like lost productivity, health care costs, mortality … law enforcement costs as well – it averages about $1300 per person.”
While alcohol is part of Canadian society, Dell says it can have a tremendous impact on a person’s life.
“Obviously drunkenness can impact social relationships, for women breast cancer, we’re seeing more and more research on the linkage between alcohol intake and breast cancer, liver cirrhosis … there are impacts that we don’t really think through as a society.”
And, she added, they are seeing some disturbing trends in drinking patterns.
“More young women are binge drinking now, to the equivalent level of males, so you’re seeing higher rates of impacts that way.”
While society is learning more about the effects, she says rates of abuse do not appear to be changing much. She recommends people follow guidelines that can help keep drinking at a relatively safe level – two drinks per day for women, to a maximum of ten per week, and three drinks per day for men, to a maximum of ten per week.
She said it’s “the maximum amount that would not be risky to be having.”
It’s addictions awareness week in the province, and Dell added they have a variety of helpful materials on their website.
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