Whether you’re sitting at a beer pounding down beer after beer or shot after shot or sitting in your office completing a productive day of work you’re still paying an extra $2 per drink even if you aren’t drinking.
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed that binge drinking in 2006 cost Americans $224 billion, equivalent to $1.90 per alcoholic beverage consumed. That additional cost comes from a loss of work productivity, car crash-related property damage and incarceration for alcohol-related crimes.
The study says that while federal, state and local governments covered 80 cents for each $1.90 extra the rest was incurred by drinkers, their families, employers, victims of alcohol-related crimes and private health insurers.
The study calls binge drinking any occasion when the drinker consumes four or more beverages in a single sitting.
According to the director of the CDC:
“Binge drinking results in binge spending.”
I personally would be interested to see how much of this cost is associated with college students who tend to binge drink on a regular basis.
Does it surprise you to learn that the cost of binge drinking on society has become so high? Should more alcohol taxes be assessed to lower the real world expenses paid out because of binge drinkers?
