NCJ Number
235452
Date Published
1990
Length
306 pages
Annotation
This statistical report from presents annual data on emergency room drug-abuse related episodes and drug-abuse related medical examiner cases for the year 1989, as obtained from the Drug Abuse Warning Network.
Abstract
Highlights from this report include: in 1989, 56 percent of the patients in emergency room (ER) drug-abuse related cases reported through the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) were male and 43 percent were female; 40 percent of the patients were White, 39 percent were Black, and 11 percent were Hispanic; 37 percent of the patients were aged 20 to 29 years, while 34 percent were 30-39; 46 percent of the episodes involved the use of 2 or more drugs; suicide was the primary motive in 65 percent of the episodes; and the most frequently mentioned drug was cocaine, followed by alcohol-in-combination, heroin/morphine, and marijuana/hashish. In 1989, there were 7,162 drug-abuse related medical examiner cases reported to DAWN. Of these deaths, 73 percent of the decedents were male; 51 percent were White, 33 percent were Black, and 14 percent were Hispanic; 24 percent were between the ages of 18 and 29, while 74 percent were age 30 and older; and 74 percent of the episodes involved use of multiple drugs, with overdose being the primary cause of death in a majority of the cases (68 percent). This report presents annual data on ER drug-abuse related episodes and drug-abuse-related medical examiner cases for the year 1989, 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