Public expenditures on illicit drugs in Germany

Presenter: Sarah Mostardt

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the introduced project is to carry out a comprehensive estimation of direct (labelled and non-labelled) expenditures of the government and the social insurance funds concerning illicit drugs in Germany.
METHODS: In a systematic literature search relevant publications were identified and analysed in view of utilized methodologies or already calculated expenditures. In the second step it was defined which kind of expenditures should be included in the analysis and which should be excluded. In a next step, those authorities and institutions which effect these expenditures were identified. These are the government (federal, state and local level) and the social insurance funds (health insurances, accident insurances, pension funds). The fourth step was the compilation of data. For the evaluation of the governmental expenditures budget documents and statistics were scanned for relevant data. For the evaluation of the expenditures of the social insurance funds standardised questionnaires were sent to the identified authorities. Data were collected, accumulated and afterwards classified according to the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG).
RESULTS (work in progress):
The literature search delivered some methodological advices, but only few usable data in view of public expenses in Germany. Two main methodological problems emerged concerning the identification of governmental expenditures: First, many relevant expenses are subsumed under broader accounts in the budget documents and therefore not labelled as drug-related. Second, it is not always differentiated between legal and illegal drugs. Therefore, adequate estimation procedures have to be developed. The compilation of data with regard to the pension funds is concluded. The results show that total expenditures concerning illegal drugs of the pension funds amount to 172 million € for the year 2006.The questioning of the 40 biggest statutory health insurances companies and the 10 biggest private health insurance companies is occuring at the moment.
CONCLUSION: The approximation of the public expenditures concerning use of illegal drugs still gives no information about adequate spending or actual benefit derived from it. However, it forms the indispensable basis for such an assessment and contributes to a more objective discussion.