NCJ Number
204887
Date Published
April 2004
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This DAWN (Drug Abuse Warning Network) report presents data on the number and types of drug-related visits to 14 hospitals in the Miami metropolitan area in 2002.
Abstract
Currently hospitals in the Miami area and 20 other metropolitan areas participate in the DAWN network, as they follow standard procedures for keeping records on cases that have involved medical treatment for drug abuse. Of the 655,000 visits to the emergency departments (ED's) of the 14 Miami DAWN hospitals in 2002, approximately 1.4 percent (9,213) were related to drug abuse. The most common drugs involved in these ED visits were cocaine (5,055); alcohol in combination with other drugs (3,863); marijuana (2,337); heroin (1,784); and benzodiazepines (1,029). In 2002, Miami had 240 cocaine-related ED visits per 100,000 population, a 43-percent increase since 1995, compared with a 78-percent rate for the Nation as a whole in 2002. Between 1995 and 2002, heroin-related ED visits in Miami increased 366 percent, from 18 to 85 mentions per 100,000 population. Among the 21 DAWN areas, Miami ranked in the top 5 regarding ED visits that involved cocaine and marijuana. From 1995 to 2003, marijuana-related ED visits in Miami increased 111 percent, similar to the national rate over this period, but the national level (47 visits per 100,000) remained less than half that in Miami. From 1995 to 2002, mentions of benzodiazepines in drug abuse-related ED visits in Miami increased 21 percent, from 41 to 49 mentions per 100,000 population, compared with a national increase of 25 percent. Four figures compare Miami's 2002 rates of ED visits for cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and benzodiazepines with the 20 other DAWN sites.