Estimation of Mortality Rates, Life Expectancy, and Life Potential of Illegal Drug Users

Abstract

The study presents proposed methods of estimation for mortality rates of illegal drug users and nonusers and their application in estimation of the life expectancy and the life potential loss of the users in Poland. Mortality rates for male users were in Poland in 2013, as an average, 4 times higher for male illegal drug users than for nonusers, and 7 times as high for females. For male illegal drug users, the loss of more than 12 years of life can be expected, whereas for females the figure stands at about 8 years. Similar losses of life potential of the users can be expected. The applied methods can be particularly useful in estimation of the social costs of illegal drug use. The results strongly underline the negative effect of the drug use which may have a preventive effect.