Detention

Detention How the Stress of Being a High School Principal Drove Me to Drink Twenty-five to forty percent of all patients in U.S. general hospital beds (not in maternity or intensive care) are being treated for complications of alcohol-related problems. Annual health care expenditures for alcohol-related problems amount to $22.5 billion. The total cost of alcohol problems is $175.9 billion a year (compared to $114.2 billion for other drug problems and $137 billion for smoking). In comparison to moderate and non-drinkers individuals with a history of heavy drinking have higher health care costs. Untreated alcohol problems waste an estimated $184.6 billion dollars per year in health care business and criminal justice costs and cause more than 100000 deaths. Health care costs related to alcohol abuse are not limited to the user. Children of alcoholics who are admitted to the hospital average 62 percent more hospital days and 29 percent longer stays. Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse Columbia University The Cost of Substance Abuse to America's Health Care System Report 1: Medical Hospital Costs 1994. Economic costs of substance abuse 1995. Dorothy P. Rice. Proceedings of the Association of American Physicians 111(2): 119-125. 1999. Hunkeler EM Hung Yun-Yi Rice DP Weiser C and Hu Teh-wei. Alcohol consumption patterns and health care costs in an HMO. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Vol 64 Issues 2 pp 181-190 October 2001. Harwood H. Updating Estimates of the Economic Costs of Alcohol Abuse in the United States: Estimates Update Methods and Data. Report prepared by The Lewin Group for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 2000. McGinnis J.M. & Foege W.H. 1993. Actual causes of death in the United States. The Journal of American Medical Association. 270(18):2207-2212. Children of Alcoholics Foundation Children of Alcoholics in the Medicaid System: Hidden Problems Hidden Costs 1990* The list is almost endless. Alcoholism affects