5 most expensive addictions

[awais]

The 5 most expensive addictions
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* Alcohol. Estimated annual cost: $166 billion. Binge drinking
hits the
unemployed harder on a per capita basis -- 10.4%, vs. 8.4% of
employed
people. It is most prevalent in small metropolitan locales, rather
than big
cities or rural areas. The $18 billion spent on alcohol and drug
treatment
last year represented 1.3% of all health care spending.
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* Smoking. Estimated annual cost: $157 billion. The tab
includes $75billion in direct medical expenses, with the rest
in lost productivity from
ill patients missing work. Given the low-tax (or no-tax)
underground
cigarette economy on the Web and on Indian reservations,
it's unlikely that
sales and usage have dropped much over the past decade,
official government
statistics notwithstanding.
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* Drugs. Estimated annual cost: $110 billion. Like alcohol,
illicit drug
use is more prevalent among the unemployed. Most addicts
are also heavy
drinkers, though only a small minority of alcoholics are drug
abusers.
Crystal meth has followed marijuana, cocaine and heroin as
the drug of
choice among the young set.
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* Overeating. Estimated annual cost: $107 billion. Overeating
increases
the risk of many health problems, including heart attacks. Obesity
causes
14% of attacks suffered by males and 20% of those suffered by
females, the
National Institutes for Health says, and fewer than a third of adults
get
regular exercise. The bulk of the $107 billion is the direct cost to
treat
heart disease, osteoarthritis, hypertension, gall bladder disease
and
cancer.
**************

* Gambling. Estimated annual cost: $40 billion. Addicted
gamblers often
feel compelled to chase after bad bets with more money in the
hope of
winning back their losses. And some who catch the fever develop
the need to
periodically raise the betting stakes to keep the same thrill. Also,
addicts
often face job loss, bankruptcy and forced home sales, and they
are at
greater risk to commit crimes like forgery and embezzlement.