Modeling the Impact of Addiction on Social Welfare of the Community with Emphasis on Health: A Case Study of Iran

Drug use has imposed enormous economic and social costs through its destructive effects on people's health and increasing crime in society. This can be detrimental to social welfare by affecting one's health. The purpose of this research is to model the impact of addiction on social welfare with an emphasis on health in Iran.

The present study was a descriptive-analytical one and was a survey in terms of data collection. A researcher-made questionnaire was used. Statistical population included experts in crime and addiction economics (sample 10) and drug addicts supervised by Tehran addiction centers (sample 384).

The results showed that economic, personal, cultural, social, political and psychological factors have a positive and significant effect on addiction, respectively. With each unit change in economic factors, welfare decreases by 0.59 and welfare increases by 0.73 by each unit change of health index.

The results of this study can be an important step in determining the priority factors and their effect on the prevalence of addiction and consequently preventing the negative effects of addiction on health and social welfare.