Is Binge Drinking the Same as Alcoholism?

4. Costs

Binge drinking can lead to serious complications. To reach a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 g/dL, men typically consume five or more drinks in about two hours and women around four. That alone is hard on the body in the short term, but the broader costs are striking too. Excessive drinking cost the United States about $249 billion in 2010, the most recent figure the CDC has published, and binge drinking accounted for roughly 77 percent of that, spread across lost workplace productivity, health care, and criminal justice expenses.