The UAE’s National Rehabilitation Centre has revealed that drug addiction costs the country $1.49 billion every year.
Arabic daily newspaper Al Ittihad reports that the cost related to drug addiction includes a number of factors, including the cost of treatment as well as losses in productivity.
NRC revealed its findings at a two-day workshop in Abu Dhabi on “mechanisms on setting up a national drug-monitoring system”, which will look at the history and objectives of drug centres.
The NRC said it intends to release the full details of its national survey on the economic burden of drug use, conducted conjunction with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in May this year.