NCJ Number
235440
Date Published
1992
Length
93 pages
Annotation
This statistical report presents annual data on drug-abuse related medical examiner cases for the year 1991, as obtained from the Drug Abuse Warning Network.
Abstract
Highlights from this report include: in 1991, 6,601 drug-abuse related deaths involving 15,576 drug mentions were reported to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN); of the 6,601 deaths, 72 percent were male, 55 percent were White, 31 percent were Black, and 12 percent were Hispanic; multiple drugs were reported in 73 percent of deaths, with cocaine reported in 46 percent of the drug-related deaths followed by alcohol-in-combination (37 percent) and heroin/morphine (35 percent of the deaths); overdoses accounted for 64 percent of the deaths with 55 percent of the deaths being accidental or unexpected; and the metropolitan areas with the greatest number of drug-abuse related medical examiner cases were New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Chicago. This report presents annual data on drug-abuse related medical examiner cases collected through DAWN for the calendar year 1991. Data were obtained from 130 medical examiners in 27 metropolitan areas located throughout the coterminous United States. Tables and appendixes