Government Role in Substance Abuse

We told you last week about a judge in Florida who’s trying to get her job back after getting busted for drinking on the job. Depending on where you work, most of us aren’t allowed to drink on the job. But it’s a series of new studies that’s raising some questions about drinking OFF the job, and how THAT could impact the economy.

A New Hampshire organization releases a new study about alcohol and drug abuse, and how they hurt the state economy. The study conducted by New Futures looks into worker productivity, medical costs, and crime. Two years ago, another study focused solely on alcohol dependency. It found that just over one percent of working men in New Hampshire had a drinking problem bad enough that it cost them their job.

This isn’t the first time a study like this has been done. In fact, a few years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out THEIR version of the study using data from the entire country. While the CDC is a public HEALTH organization, their evaluations didn’t cover just the impact on the body. They tied their findings directly to the economy. And the findings were far from glowing. The CDC report blamed alcohol for hurting the US economy in a big way, to the tune of a quarter TRILLION dollars. They said each serving of alcohol cost the US economy one dollar and 90 cents.

The study itself is rather confusing. They pulled numbers from all over the place to prove a point. The biggest question is this: Why do so many of these ‘studies’ try so hard to tie alcohol to a sinking economy? Who decided to connect those two dots? Many viewers were quick to point out that alcohol sales actually do a lot to BOOST the economy. It provides jobs for truck drivers, manufacturers, wheat farmers, distributors, retailers and so many more. In fact, I’m sure some salesmen would tell you, alcohol helped them close a few deals along the way.

Now, don’t take this the wrong way. This report is neither pro- or anti- alcohol. But it IS interesting to find so many government funded studies trying so hard to link alcohol to a poor economy. If government agencies can convince the American voter their wallet is in jeopardy, they have much more power to influence their decisions. We’re already seeing the Board of Health propose a mandate that would OUTLAW the sale of ANY tobacco product in Westminster, Massachusetts.

I suppose if we learn anything from this cost analysis, it’s this: While every individual decision may come at a cost, every government decision comes at the cost of an entire nation.