Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Health the annual health costs of substance misuse; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38406/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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A report of the National Substance Misuse Strategy Steering Group was published last February ; and it declared that the total cost to the State of alcohol related harm- in terms of health-care costs, crime cost, cost of lost economic output and alcohol-related road accidents - was €3.5 billion in 2007.

There is no comparable data in respect of the health costs associated with the misuse of drugs. However, Government Departments and Agencies continue to prioritise the issue of problem drug use with funding in the region of €250m allocated in 2011.