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V. PREVIOUS RESEARCH 



Alcohol and Other Drug Cost Studies 



At present the most comprehensive studies on the economic costs of alcohol and other drug use 

 are those commissioned by the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration in the 

 1980s. Cruze (1981) and Harwood (1984) studied the combined cost impact of alcohol and drug 

 abuse and mental illness to society. Both studies, conducted by the Research Triangle Institute 

 (RTI), estimated the total economic impact of alcohol and drug abuse and mental illness (ADM) 

 disorders, including the direct costs of diagnoses and treatment of patients suffering from these 

 illnesses, indirect costs associated with loss of earnings due to reduced or lost productivity, 

 premature death, and other related costs. 



In their estimates of treatment and costs, the RTI studies refined previous estimates by 

 "identifying specific diseases and illnesses that are related to alcohol, drug abuse, and mental 

 illness (ADM) and allocating costs based on the proportions of the illnesses or diseases that are 

 attributable to ADM." However, these attributable proportions were almost solely alcohol- 

 related: no drug-related illnesses were included. In some cases, furthermore, estimates ranged 

 from 0.2% to 70%. Nevertheless, this work did provide a analysis of the alcohol literature and 

 established a clear link between epidemiologic research and cost analysis. 



In 1988, Rice, et al updated Harwood's cost analysis. Like Harwood, Rice attempted to 

 estimate the total societal costs of alcohol, drug abuse, and mental illness (direct health care 

 costs only accounted for 24% of these total costs). For estimating direct health care costs, 

 however. Rice did not use the attributable percentages employed by Harwood. Instead, she 



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