Abstract
According to the cost-of-illness studies, economic impact of alcohol consumption is substantial. Impact
of alcohol and smoking on productivity loss due to premature mortality and morbidity is enormous and clearly affect economic system of the country. According to the cost-of-illness studies, the followings
are policy recommendation; 1) Alcohol control policy should be set as the national priority; 2) collaboration
from all related organizations not only those from the health care sectors but also other economic
organizations both government and private as well as enterprises at all levels are needed; 3) Policy/
intervention aims at preventing new drinker as well as encouraging drinker to quit at the early age are
essential. However, policy/intervention targeting at prevention of adolescent from start drinking are more
cost-saving than policy encouraging drinker to quit. In addition, encourage drinker to quit at early age is
more cost-saving than at the older age; 4) Policy/ intervention targeted at preventing new responsible
drinker or encouraging responsible drinker to quit is still important, as responsible drinkers accounted
for the highest proportion in the country; and 5) All related organizations should collect data in term of
the number of new drinkers or quitters attributable to the policy/intervention in order to use them to
conduct cost-effectiveness of such policy/intervention in the future.
