News Releases

Tobacco and opioid addictions cost Indiana more than $8.2 billion annually, and the state should do more to address these problems, according to two studies released today by the Fairbanks Foundation and conducted by IUPUI’s Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health. The toll from tobacco alone comes to $6.8 billion, taking into account health-care costs, costs incurred from secondhand smoke and lost productivity due to smoking-related diseases and smoking on the job. Opioid overdose deaths cost Indiana $1.4 billion in 2014 in terms of medical costs and lost lifetime earnings, the study found. Then there’s the loss of life. Opioid overdoses killed more than 1,000 people in 2014, and tobacco was […]