Assessment of Drug-Related Public Expenditures in Croatia ; Procjena javnih rashoda u području suzbijanja zlouporabe droga u Hrvatskoj

Abstract

Literature suggests that drug abuse is one of the major health and social problems in today's society. Croatia is no exception in this respect, although it belongs among the European countries with medium drug use prevalence. Consequently, the importance of evaluating public drug policy is growing. Public expenditures on combating drug problems are recognised as a very useful indicator of government efforts in this regard. This paper contains the results of the first research on drug-related public expenditures conducted in Croatia for the period between 2009 and 2012. Total drug-related public expenditures, including both labelled and unlabelled expenditures, are estimated and expenditures analysed according to the purpose for which these expenditures are intended. The estimation of drug-related public expenditures is based on data collected by means of a survey conducted among principal stakeholders in the field of combating drug abuse in Croatia. Also, the paper analyses expenditures according to the functional classification so as to gain an insight into more detailed purposes for which these expenditures are intended. The results show that the largest part of total public expenditures relates to the public function of public order and safety, while smaller drug-related expenditures are used for health, social protection and education. ; Literatura navodi da je suzbijanje zlouporabe droga vodeći zdravstveni i društveni problem današnjega društva. Hrvatska u tome nije iznimka, iako pripada zemljama Europske unije sa srednjim stupnjem ovisnosti. Sve je veća važnost vrednovanja javnih politika na području suzbijanja zlouporabe droga. Javni izdaci predstavljaju važan indikator državnih napora u suzbijanju zlouporabe droga. Ovaj članak sadrži rezultate prvog istraživanja javnih rashoda u Hrvatskoj od 2009. do 2012. godine. U radu su procijenjeni ukupni javni rashodi, specificirani i nespecificirani, koji se odnose na suzbijanje zlouporabe droga. Procjena se temelji na podacima koji su prikupljeni anketnim ispitivanjem glavnih dionika na području suzbijanja zlouporabe droga u Hrvatskoj. U članku se analiziraju i javni rashodi prema funkcijskoj klasifikaciji, kako bi se stekao uvid u njihovu krajnju namjenu. Rezultati upućuju na to da se najveći dio ukupnih javnih rashoda odnosi na javnu funkciju javnog reda i sigurnosti, dok se manji dio odnosi na zdravstvo, socijalnu zaštitu i obrazovanje.