The Economic Cost of Methamphetamine Use in the United States, 2005

Think-tank researchers make the first effort to calculate the national price of methamphetamine use in the U.S.

Key points from the study include:

• Methamphetamine imposed costs of $23.4 billion in 2005, taking an economic toll nearly as great as heroin and possibly more.
• About 400,000 Americans are believed to be addicted to methamphetamine.
• Major costs associated with methamphetamine use included $4.2 billion in crime and criminal justice, $904 million for endangered children put into foster care as a result of parents' use, $687 million in lost productivity, $545 million for drug treatment, $351 million for health care and $61 million for injuries and deaths at exploding meth labs and for cleaning up the toxic wastes they produce.

This document is available at http://rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG829/.