Journal of substance abuse treatment
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J Subst Abuse Treat · Mar 2000
Estimating the willingness to pay for drug abuse treatment: a pilot study.
Previous economic studies of the benefits of drug treatment have limited their estimation to tangible benefits, and thus have underestimated the benefits of drug treatment. The willingness-to-pay (WTP) approach is a more encompassing benefit valuation method that captures both tangible and intangible benefits and accords with valuation concepts used by economists. In this study, we report the results of a pilot study in which we used the contingent valuation (CV) method to value drug treatment. ⋯ We modeled respondents' WTP for drug treatment as a function of their demographics and to responses from attitudinal/experience questions. The mean WTP for both types of drug treatment programs was estimated to be approximately $37 per respondent. Finally, we demonstrated how the results of the CV method may be used in a benefit-cost analysis of drug treatment.