The Costs and Benefits of Substance Abuse Treatment: Findings from the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES)
August 1999
DHHS, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment
The purpose of this study is to quantify the costs and benefits of alcohol and drug abuse treatment and the resulting economic benefits to society, using data from the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES). Lewin constructed estimates of treatment costs for each of the modalities and across all modalities. To measure benefits, Lewin used data from NTIES to estimate the crime-related and health care costs associated with substance abusers and the income of substance abusers in the periods before and after treatment. The difference between pre-treatment (baseline) costs and post-treatment (follow-up) costs provides an estimate of the economic impact of substance abuse treatment. This "treatment effect" is viewed as a benefit to the extent that it represents avoided crime-related costs, health-care costs, or welfare payments or increased earnings. In other words, the benefits of treatment are equal to the additional costs that would have been incurred and the additional earnings that would not have been realized in the absence of treatment.