Jump to full article: Hartford (CT) Courant, 2001-03-09
Author: JOHN A. MacDONALD / The Hartford Courant
Intro: Substance abuse is the nation's top health problem, causing more deaths, illness and disabilities than any other preventable health problem today, according to a major report to be issued today.
Of the more than 2 million deaths each year in the United States, about one in four is due to abuse of alcohol, tobacco or illicit drugs, the report says. The economic cost of the abuse is estimated at more than $414 billion a year.
"This is an enormous burden that affects all of society - people who abuse alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs, and those who do not," says the report prepared for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest health care philanthropy. . .
The report, which exceeds 110 pages, is consistent with other research and is believed to be the most comprehensive single-volume examination of the problems of substance abuse. . .
Tobacco use causes 430,700 deaths a year and creates $138 billion in annual costs. Cigarette use continues to decline, with consumption in 2000 the lowest since 1963. Cigar use has increased recently. Every year, more than 5 million years of life could have been saved if every person who died from cigarette smoking had lived to his or her average life expectancy. . .
The effects of substance abuse spread to virtually every corner of modern society, the report says.
Exposure to second-hand smoke, for example, is "an acknowledged health hazard" that each year causes 3,000 lung-cancer deaths among nonsmokers, the report says. In addition, more than 6,000 deaths among children each year are linked to parental smoking, primarily from low birth weights caused by smoking during pregnancy. . .
the massive document also includes a section on the role of the media in shaping popular perceptions of the risks involved in using alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs.
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