Social costs of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco in the European Union: A systematic review.
Drug use accounts for one of the main disease groups in Europe, with relevant consequences to society. There is an increasing need to evaluate the economic consequences of drug use in order to develop appropriate policies. Here, we review the social costs of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco in the European Union.



A systematic search of relevant databases was conducted. Grey literature and previous systematic reviews were also searched. Studies reporting on social costs of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco were included. Methodology, cost components as well as costs were assessed from individual studies. To compare across studies, final costs were transformed to 2014 Euros.



Forty-five studies reported in 43 papers met the inclusion criteria (11 for illegal drugs, 26 for alcohol and 8 for tobacco). While there was a constant inclusion of direct costs related to treatment of substance use and comorbidities, there was a high variability for the rest of cost components. Total costs showed also a great variability. Price per capita for the year 2014 ranged from €0.38 to €78 for illegal drugs, from €26 to €1500 for alcohol and from €10.55 to €391 for tobacco.



Drug use imposes a heavy economic burden to Europe. However, given the high existing heterogeneity in methodologies, and in order to better assess the burden and thus to develop adequate policies, standardised methodological guidance is needed. [Barrio P, Reynolds J, García-Altés A, Gual A, Anderson P. Social costs of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco in the European Union: A systematic review. Drug Alcohol Rev 2017;00:000-000].
Addictive Behaviors Unit, Clinic Hospital, Neuroscience Institute, Barcelona, Spain.
Pablo
P
Barrio
Addictive Behaviors Unit, Clinic Hospital, Neuroscience Institute, Barcelona, Spain.
Jillian
J
Reynolds
Catalon Agency of Quality and Health Evaluation, Barcelona, Spain.|Biomedical Research Network Centre of Epidemiology and Public Health, Barcelona, Spain.|Sant Pau Biomedical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain.
Anna
A
García-Altés
Addictive Behaviors Unit, Clinic Hospital, Neuroscience Institute, Barcelona, Spain.
Antoni
A
Gual
Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.|Department of Family Medicine, School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Peter
P
Anderson
D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000191:economics*; D005062:European Union / Q000191:economics*; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000191:economics*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000191:economics*; D062789:Tobacco Products / Q000191:economics*
D013287:Illicit Drugs
addiction; alcohol; illegal drug; social cost; tobacco