Bloomberg Vice Index shows cost of drugs and alcohol around the world
The cost of a weekly habit of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine and opioids costs a lot less in SA than in Australia
Bangkok/Brussels/New York — The cost of maintaining a drugs, booze and cigarettes habit got a lot more expensive in the US last year, rising the most of almost anywhere in the world, the annual Bloomberg Global Vice Index shows. Americans had to fork out more than $200 more for a basket of so-called vice goods last year compared to 2016, with only New Zealand seeing a bigger increase. The gauge compares the share of income needed to maintain a broad weekly habit of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine and opioids across more than 100 countries. Doing so eats up more than a third of the average weekly pay slips in more than three quarters of the economies tracked, the index shows. The gauge is purely an economic indicator, not a judgment about morality or legality. Nor does it track gambling, prostitution or other illicit activities. Vice is cheapest in Luxembourg, where the cost comes in at less than 10% of the $2,071 average weekly wage, which is the highest in the...
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