Economic Analysis of Alcoholism & Smoking in Canada - Essay Example

This paper will be discussing and evaluating the economic cost or burden of having the aforementioned addictions within the Canadian framework.Usage of tobacco in smoking is one of the most major causes of preventable deaths in high-income countries. More than five million deaths per year are consequences of using tobacco or intensive smoking. Smoking is the main risk factor for the top three causes of death in Canada and those are cancer, lung disease and cardiovascular disease. The economic cost of $17 billion was bored by the Canadian economy as a result of using tobacco in 2002 and in the same year $404 billion of expense for health care was paid directly by Canadian smokers.

But the Canadian society is forced to carry costs such as turnover, work absenteeism and income lost due to early deaths. Over a period of time, the number of fires resulting from smoking was 36,125 and it cost the Canadian denizens, in property distortion,$433 million. Likewise, the Conference Board of Canada cohered that to employ a smoker than a non-smoker cost them near to $2,565 per year, in 1997. But it is not the society only that bears the economic burden of smoking but in fact, it is the smoker himself or herself who have to bear the costs associated with smoking.

Smokers are supposed to pay for life insurance premiums and pay billions of dollars in the name of tobacco taxes. And if this is not enough, then there is also the cost of the cigarettes too. Only in the province of Alberta in 2005,” a smoker who smokes a pack a day spends almost $3,650 each year on cigarettes, based on an average price of $10 a pack” (Economic Cost).Additionally, according to the Conference Board of Canada (2012) lung diseases alone costs Canada $12 billion. Analysts believe that if the Canadian populace and government make no effort to combat the dilemma then it is very likely that the cost will double.

The cost can be divided in direct health care as 3.4 million (drugs, hospitals, physicians) and $8.6 billion in indirect costs (such as premature death and long term disability)” (Lung Disease Imposes Major Costs on Canada’s Economy, 2012).According to the Conference Board of Canada (2012), the pervasiveness of chronic lung disease due to smoking would escalate by 29 per cent and as a result, the economic burden would increase by $1.56 billion in 2030. The analysts of the board opine that a reduction of 6.

5 per cent can take place if the following steps are taken:• Decreasing smoking rates through policy measures such as tax or price increases, health warnings, etc.• Putting bans on public place smoking in order to reduce second-hand smoke.As a result, over two decades, “costs for these three diseases would be reduced by a cumulative $12.4 billion” (Lung Disease Imposes Major Costs on Canada’s Economy, 2012).Whereas the total amount of other illegal drugs was only about 9 billion Dollars (Rehm, 2006).

According to the data collected by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) within a year the number of hospitalities relating to alcoholic conditions was27,084 hospitals. While these admissions largely were in relation to motor accidents caused by alcoholism were conducive towards severe traumas. In 2009 in Canada, 884 people died in alcohol-related crashes alone (Too High a Cost: A Public Health Approach to Alcohol Policy in Canada, 2011). While 69.3% of drunken driving accidents occurred with an impact on the driver, 18.

0% of victims involved other automobile occupants and 12.4% were pedestrians. In order to combat this prevailing dilemma, the federal government should:• alter federal excise duties on all alcohol products as per the Consumer Price Index.While provincial governments should:• “establish a system of alcohol pricing based on the percentage of absolute alcohol in a standard drink such that the higher the alcohol content, the higher the price” (Too High a Cost: A Public Health Approach to Alcohol Policy in Canada, 2011).

• establish minimum reference price for retail sales.• establish a provincial surtax on alcoholic beverages that are disproportionately consumed by youth.Therefore it is pivotal to have a coordinated response such that enhanced policies are formulated that are complementary in nature such as “warning signs advising of the risks associated with alcohol use should not be undermined by the advertising of inexpensive alcohol where the price per unit is so low that it encourages binge drinking” (Too High a Cost: A Public Health Approach to Alcohol Policy in Canada, 2011).

It is essential that more unswerving policies are formulated that are conducive towards a supportive environment for the entire populace, along with those who want to combat their alcohol consumption and in addition those who are in recovery from alcohol dependence. But it is not only a federal policy but in fact, it is “essential to have a provincial strategy on alcohol that will provide guidance in developing a coordinated and coherent response” (Too High a Cost: A Public Health Approach to Alcohol Policy in Canada, 2011).