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Treatment Works
Addiction treatment research demonstrates that alcohol and drug
addiction are treatable illnesses similar to other chronic conditions
like asthma, diabetes or hypertension. Relapse and non-compliance
are no more prevalent for people being treated for alcohol and drug
addiction than among people with other chronic illnesses.
• Treatment is cost effective when compared to incarceration.
$1800 to $6800 vs $18,330 annually.
• Reduces criminal activity up to 80%. For example; selling
drugs declined by 78 percent; and shoplifting declined by almost
82 percent. Before treatment, almost half the respondents reported
“beating someone up.” Following treatment, that number
declined to 11 percent, a 78 percent decrease.
• Improves physical and mental health and reduces medical
costs. For example, alcohol/drug-related medical visits decreased
by 53 percent; those bothered by mental health problems declined
by 35 percent; and those who reported inpatient mental health visits
decreased by 28 percent.
• Increases employment and decreases homlessness.
Costs of Untreated Addiction
• Untreated addiction costs America $400 billion per year.
• New Jersey’s burden of addiction on state programs
for each dollar spent on prevention, treatment and research is $39.64.
The nationwide average is $25.85.
• The U.S. Small Business Administration reports drug-free
workplace programs costs $22-$50 per employee compared to estimated
annual costs of $640 incurred by each untreated substance abusing
employee.
• Untreated addiction is more expensive than 3 of the nation’s
top 10 killers: 6 times more expensive than America’s number
one killer: heart disease ($133.2 billion/year), 6 times more than
diabetes ($130 billion/year), 4 times more than cancer ($96.1billion/year).
• Almost 20% of all Medicaid hospital costs and nearly $1
of every $4 Medicare spends on inpatient hospital care is associated
with substance abuse.
• Two-thirds of partner abuse victims (those abused by a current
or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend) reported that alcohol
had been a factor; for spouse abuse victims, the offender was drinking
in three out of four cases.
Workplace Benefits to Treatment
The vast majority of people who abuse alcohol or drugs are employed.
This means New Jersey industries pay billions of dollars in related
health care, lost productivity, disability payments, and workplace
injuries. The Washington Business Group on Health found that employers
that provide standardized, scientifically valid evaluations and
access to a continuum of treatment based on best practices have
succeeded in reducing this behavior at very little cost.
• A study by The National Evaluation Data Services found health
care costs declined by 22% to 55% following alcohol or drug treatment.
For New Jersey industries that represents a savings of $680 million
to $1.5 Billion.
• The Minnesota Department of Health determined that when
the uniform placement criteria were applied, the result was a 26%
decrease in the use of inpatient treatment and expensive hospital
based programs with no decrease in completion rates.
• The majority of employee managers (83%) believe its better
for a company’s bottom-line to help employees recover from
addiction than it is to terminate them for alcohol-related incidents.
• A California study concluded that the cost of rehabilitating
an employee who had been addicted to alcohol or other drugs is half
that of firing the problem employee and then hiring and training
a new person.
Seeking addiction treatment in New
Jersey for a loved one, a client, or yourself? This task is made easier with NCADD-NJ’s new online
NJ Addiction Treatment Locator. Over 300 New Jersey treatment providers
are listed in our database. Search now by location,
name, treatment
services, or type of care.
