The socioeconomic cost of illicit drug consumption in Chile

Abstract

This article estimates the magnitude of monetary resources which Chile loses or forgoes owing to the trafficking and consumption of illicit drugs. On the basis of a "cost-of-illness" methodology, it is estimated that in 2006 drug consumption in Chile represented an economic burden of 266.744 billion pesos —or USUS$ 503 million in current prices that year— equivalent to 0.45% of gross domestic product (gdp) and a per capita cost of 16,232 Chilean pesos or USUS$ 31. The bulk of this sum is related to law enforcement for drug crime or other related offences (47%) and productivity losses reflected in the burden of disability-adjusted life years (46%).