Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD)

PROJECTS
Area  Inter-American Observatory on Drugs (OID) / Research and Analysis
Project Name The Human, Social and Economic Costs of Drugs in the Americas
Start Date/
Duration		 Ongoing
Location Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Uruguay,
Beneficiaries  Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Uruguay
Participating Institutions The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey /Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA), the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) at the United States Department of State; the National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) of Barbados; the Consejo Nacional Contra Estupefacientes (CONACE) of Chile; the Dirección Nacional de Estupefacientes (DNE) of Colombia; the Instituto Costarricense sobre Drogas (ICD) and the Instituto sobre Alcoholismo y Fármacodependencia of Costa Rica;  la Comisión Salvadoreña Antidrogas (COSA), and La Fundación Antidrogas (FUNDASALVA) of El Salvador; Centro de Planeación para el Control de Drogas of Mexico; and La Junta Nacional de Drogas of Uruguay
Budget  US$1,000,000.00
Donors Government of the United States of America

Government of Canada
Project Description  The purpose of the Cost Program is to carry out a series of inter-related projects that will allow countries to produce estimates on the economic impact  of the drug problem in a variety of social sectors such as health, criminal justice, welfare, industry, and labor enabling them apply their data to develop knowledge-based policies and practices.  Armed with specific cost data countries can then make rational decisions about where to target scarce government resources.  More importantly, by understanding where money is being invested and the costs related to those investments, decision makers can then devise strategies to reduce those costs. 

 The pilot study for the Cost Program was completed in September, 2005.  The following methodology and deliverables are the products delivered to the Summit of the Americas in November 2005, and to the CICAD Commission in December 2005. 

The impetus for this project began with Recommendation 20 of CICAD’s Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM), Hemispheric Report 1999-2000, and also the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in May of 2001, where CICAD received a mandate to “develop within the framework of CICAD, a mechanism to measure to human, social and economic costs of drug abuse.” 

 
Objectives

 By Fall 2005

  1. Research Manual for the Cost Program – direct cost methodology completed, published and made available to all Member States.  Manual includes research methodology, formulae for calculating costs, specific protocols for obtaining missing data, and discussion on the application of the data to formulate policy.
  2. Functioning website that allows countries to perform simple cost calculations, and provides a vehicle for the consultant team to assist countries in the evaluation and presentation of their data.
  3. Final reports from the costs studies completed in Barbados, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico and Uruguay

By 2006

  1. Continue cost studies in the pilot countries that wish to further develop their economic research and produce more precise cost estimates.
  2. Collaborate with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) to develop a program to estimate avoidable costs in Chile. 
  3. Carry out inventories on available information corresponding to the cost program methodology in Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Trinidad.
  4. Introduce a proposal to the MEM IWG for an indicator on economic and social impact studies.
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