Loss of productivity due to substance use cost the Canadian economy $22.4 billion in 2020, a new report said Wednesday.
The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction released Canadian Use Costs and Harms [CSUCH] 2007-2020 report addressing “how the use of different substances affects the health and productivity of people in Canada.”
Alcohol accounted for just more than 40 per cent of the total costs by substance at $19.7 billion, followed by tobacco, opioids and cocaine, said the report.
“It’s an alarming amount and what’s striking is that we have quantified the loss,” said Jason Powell, Senior Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellness at Humber College in Toronto.
Lost productivity alone cost $589 per person during the pandemic, top reasons being premature deaths and long and short-term disability.
Since the alcohol and opioid users were young, their deaths resulted in more lost years of productive life.
“It’s not surprising that people turned to alcohol and drugs to address their mental health issues during the pandemic,” said Powell.
“Students probably felt disproportionate amounts of anxiety, uncertainty and social isolation,” he told Humber News.
Substance use led to nearly 200 deaths a day and was highest in Nunavut and Northwest Territories and lowest in Ontario, said the report.
“There is a very disproportionate access to mental health support in our Indigenous communities,” said Powell, noting that people in a part of Canada like Nunavut are unlikely to have the same advantages as a person in downtown Toronto.
Former member of the Canadian Senate and First Nations lawyer “Murray Sinclair said Education is what got us into it and education is what will get us out,’” said Powell.
“We have to educate and advocate for more resources to be identified and sent towards Indigenous communities.
The Centre on Substance Use and Addiction used the “human capital approach” which assumes the deceased individual cannot be replaced in the workforce and that their lost income up to the age of retirement is not recoverable.
“Societal responses to the pandemic were associated with increased use of legal and illegal substances as well as increased toxicity of the unregulated drug supply,” the report said.
The report suggested that prioritizing policies aimed towards reducing the harms of alcohol use may lead to the most widespread reduction in the economic burden of substance use in Canada.
This year, the centre also released a report in January suggesting that no amount of alcohol is good for a person and anything beyond two glasses a week could increase the risk of alcohol-related illness.