Abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other illicit drugs is the most serious health problem in the world. It is straining the health care system, burdening the economy, contributing to the health problems and resulting in death of millions of peoples every year. As usual, substance abuse was the major serious problem in 2005. It caused more illnesses, disabilities and deaths than any other preventable health diseases.

To overcome it, Congress amended a bill of private health plans, which cover substance abuse treatment with same level of benefits as they provided for other types of illnesses.

Major benefits with these Treatment policies were money saving in the long run, reduction in drug use by 40 percent to 60 percent and many more. It is a very important fact that one-year methadone treatment costs an average $4,700 per patient while one year of imprisonment costs $18,400 on average. This was published in the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s 1999 publication – “Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment”. This term simply justifies the adverse affect of substance abuse.

By MND A01