NCJ Number
235449
Date Published
1987
Length
290 pages
Annotation
This statistical report presents annual data on emergency room drug-abuse related episodes and drug-abuse related medical examiner cases for the year 1986, as obtained from the Drug Abuse Warning Network.
Abstract
Highlights from this report include: in 1986, 52 percent of the patients in emergency room (ER) drug-abuse related cases reported through the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) were male and 48 percent were female; 49 percent of the patients were White, 33 percent were Black, and 11 percent were Hispanic; 38 percent of the patients were aged 20 to 29 years, while 30 percent were 30-39; 41 percent of the episodes involved multiple drugs; suicide was the primary motive in 36 percent of the episodes; and the most frequently mentioned drug was cocaine, followed by alcohol-in-combination, heroin/morphine, diazepam, PCP/PCP combinations, and marijuana. In 1986, there were 4,138 drug-abuse related medical examiner cases reported to DAWN. Of these deaths, 70 percent of the decedents were male; 59 percent were White, 25 percent were Black, and 12 percent were Hispanic; 28 percent were between the ages of 18 and 29, while 70 percent were age 30 and older; and 72 percent of the episodes involved use of multiple drugs, with overdose being the primary cause of death in a majority of the cases (70 percent). This report presents annual data on ER drug-abuse related episodes and drug-abuse-related medical examiner cases for the year 1986, as reported through DAWN. Data for the report were obtained from hospitals in 27 metropolitan areas, and a sample of hospitals outside the primary metropolitan areas. DAWN is a large-scale, ongoing drug abuse collection system with several objectives: identifying substances associated with drug abuse episodes; monitoring drug abuse patterns and trends; assessing health hazards associated with drug abuse; and providing data for national, State, and local drug abuse policy and program planning. Tables and appendixes