**7.2 Social costs of drug abuse**

In light of the fact that providing the highest standard of care is one of the basic tenets of the medical profession, it is important to note that several studies have shown that untreated opioid-abusing patients have significantly higher societal cost (Wall et al., 2000) and mortality rate (between 2 and 10 times) than the comparative general population (Hall et al., 2008; Oyefeso et al., 1999). Based on this data alone, the use of UDT should be justified for pain patients.
