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 over $200 (about R2400) more for a basket of so-called vice goods last year versus 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 cheque 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 $2071 average weekly wage, which is the highest in the world. The Bahamas, Swi...
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