In their recent newsletter, the Druginfo Clearing House suggested that there is plenty of evidence about the harmful effects of alcohol and other drugs on the people who use them as well as on family members and friends.

The evidence of the extent of harm can be found in the following reports:

• the Beckley Foundation's Monitoring drug policy outcomes: the measurement of drug related harm [PDF 452KB] (Roberts, Bewley-Taylor & Trace, 2006) looked at the models and methods of estimating the social costs of drug-related harm.
• Counting the cost: estimates of the social costs of drug abuse in Australia 1998–9 [PDF 328KB] (Collins & Lapsley, 2002) estimated the social cost of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs. It was reported that in the 1998–9 financial year, the social costs of tobacco use were estimated to be over $21 billion, alcohol over $7.5 billion and illicit drugs over $6 billion.
• The three billion $ question for Australian business [PDF 508KB] (Collins, Lapsley & Marks, 2007) estimated the financial cost of illicit drugs on the community at over $6 billion a year. The report went on to estimate the cost of illicit drugs to individuals, the government and business.
• Working estimates of the social costs per gram and per user for cannabis, cocaine, opiates and amphetamines [PDF 576KB] (Moore, 2007) estimated the health, crime and road accident costs associated with a selection of illicit drugs for both dependent and non-dependent drug users. The report estimated that the social cost of opiates was over $4.5 billion, amphetamines at over $3.7 billion, cannabis at over $3 billion and cocaine at almost $300 million.

You can find more reports and journal articles looking at the social costs of alcohol and other drugs in the DrugInfo Clearinghouse library.