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Californians Pay Heavy Price For Alcohol

California is the largest alcohol market in the United States. In 2005 alone Californians consumed 14 billion alcohol drinks. This study is the first comprehensive estimate of the cost of alcohol use in an individual state. Alcohol contributes to illnesses such as cirrhosis, esophageal cancer, pancreatitis, and epilepsy. It plays a role in violent crimes such as sexual assaults, domestic violence, and child abuse. This study analyzed the costs of alcohol-related health problems, alcohol-attributable illness, fetal alcohol syndrome, high risk sex, alcohol dependence and abuse, non-motor vehicle accidents, self inflicted injuries, crime, and traffic injuries and fatalities. Both the economic and quality of life costs were examined. Alcohol use in California in 2005 led to 9,439 deaths and 921,929 alcohol related problems such as crime and injuries. The economic cost of these problems is estimated to be between $35 billion and $42 billion. The economic cost of these deaths and non-fatal incidents accounted for an economic cost of $38 billion.

This economic cost amounts to $1,000 per resident of California. In addition, alcohol is responsible for severe reductions in an individual’s quality of life. The researchers estimated that the disability caused by injuries, personal anguish of violent crime victims, and the life-years lost to fatalities were enormous. The estimated value of this reduced quality of life is between $30 billion and $60 billion. The authors suggest that the methodology developed for this study can be useful in studying the economic and quality of life costs of alcohol related problems in other states.

(Rosen, SM, Miller, TR, Simon, M: The cost of alcohol in California. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 32: 1925-36, 2008.)

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