Andersson E, Löfvendahl S

Samhällsekonomiska konsekvenser av förändrat narkotikabruk i Sverige – Scenarier för förändrad användning

The report is written in Swedish with a summary in English

The use of different types of drugs increases the risks for the individual user, for example in terms of health and social problems. Negative consequences can occur acutely or after a period of use and vary according to type of substance, how much is used and how often and in what way drugs are taken. Around four percent of the population aged 16-64 years report having used some type of drug in the past 12 months, according to the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s 2021 National Public Health Survey.

A new report from IHE estimates the societal costs of total narcotic drug use in Sweden at SEK 44.1 billion for 2020.

The report also presents a scenario analysis of how the socio-economic costs of drug use in Sweden could be affected by changes in drug use. The scenario analyses were based on data on the use of different types of drugs for countries in the EU. The calculations in the current report are based on a previous publication from the IHE (IHE report 2022:5) and a new estimate of the number of people in Sweden with problem drug use in 2020 from the Public Health Agency of Sweden. The new estimate of the number of people with problem drug use in Sweden implies more than a doubling of the number of people with such use, from 29,500 in a previous estimate to 71,000 people in the current estimate.

IHE RAPPORT 2024:7, IHE: Lund