Resumen de Estimating the economic costs of drug abuse in Colombia

A. Pérez Gómez, E. Wilson

• The development of reliable estimates of the economic costs of substance abuse can help to prioritize drug issues and provide useful information to policy makers. Nevertheless, only a few developed countries have so far attempted to carry out such studies.

  The present paper reviews the current situation of drug abuse in a developing country widely recognized as a country struggling to overcome a problem of drug production. The data confirm the trend observed elsewhere: countries in which drugs are produced also tend to see rising levels of consumption. On the other hand, it is shown that the lack of systematic information in many areas makes it almost impossible to calculate the costs of drug abuse in countries such as Colombia. Various suggestions are made with a view to correcting some of the problems identified.