American economy continues to be drained by excessive drinking

More than three-fourths of the costs, or 77 percent, was due to binge drinking, which the agency defines as consuming five or more drinks for men or four drinks for women on one occasion.

According to the study, the total cost to the North Carolina state government from high alcohol consumption was about $2.8 billion.

Robert Brewer, M.D., M.S.P.H., head of CDC’s Alcohol Program and one of the study’s authors said in a press release there is much that can be done to curb excessive drinking but interventions are “underused”.

Brewer explained that preventative methods can decrease the cost of over-drinking on the state and local levels.

The CDC says excessive consumption of alcohol is to blame for 88,000 deaths per years, including one in ten deaths among Americans between the ages of 20 and 64.

It’s important to note that the CDC’s current estimates are based on changes in the occurrence of alcohol-related problems and the cost of paying for them since 2006; in which case, there’s a chance a few of the component costs were misestimated. That’s up from $1.90 per drink in 2006. Other costs include alcohol-related deaths, crime and property damage, such as vehicles destroyed in accidents. The experts from The Centers of Disease Control (CDS) have found out that the national binge for drinking triggers an annual federal cost of $249 billion dollars.

Underage drinking cost the economy $24.3 billion.

A huge chunk of the economic toll of excessive alcohol intake is impaired productivity in the workplace or absenteeism, which took $77 billion of the total cost (71.9 percent) in the study.

The District of Columbia had the highest cost per person, which was $1,526 compared to the national average of $807, the agency said.

But the researchers believe that two things are clear: excessive drinking is both very expensive and largely “borne by taxpayers”, including those who don’t drink.