News Release

Rise in Drug-Abuse Related Narcotic Pain Medications in ERs

SAMHSA Releases 2002 DAWN Survey

The 2002 DAWN estimates 670,307 drug-abuse-related hospital emergency department visits in the continental United States in 2002, about the same as drug-abuse-related visits in 2001.  In DAWN a single drug abuse visit may include multiple drugs as many persons are poly-drug users.  On average, each visit involved 1.8 drug “mentions”. DAWN measures mentions of specific illicit, prescription and over-the-counter drugs that are linked to drug abuse in visits to hospital emergency departments.

“We must educate the public about the dangers of misuse of prescription medications,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said.  “We must continue to strengthen our prevention programs and build substance abuse treatment capacity so that people don’t abuse drugs and tax the medical and economic resources of our emergency departments.”

The new DAWN data show that emergency department mentions of marijuana increased 24 percent from 2000 to 2002.  This is especially noteworthy because in the past marijuana was frequently reported along with other drugs.  Now, the number of visits for only marijuana rose 45 percent from 2000 to 2002.  

“This report proves that marijuana is more harmful than many people think,” said White House Director of National Drug Control Policy John Walters.  “The rising levels of marijuana potency that we’ve seen over the last several years correspond with dramatic increases in people seeking emergency medical care for marijuana-related incidents.  But the huge decline in LSD mentions serves as a lesson that when we push back against a drug problem with a balanced supply and demand-reduction strategy, we save lives.”

“One life corrupted by drug use is one too many.  Effective prevention and treatment programs are key to helping reduce the needless waste of health, justice and economic resources that results from abuse of drugs," said SAMHSA Administrator Charles G. Curie. “We are working with states and local drug treatment providers to build treatment capacity.  SAMHSA expects that President Bush’s new Access to Recovery program to provide for treatment will be key to those efforts.”

There was a dramatic 84 percent decline in mentions of LSD from 1995-2002, but there was a resurgence in visits involving PCP, particularly in Philadelphia and Washington D.C.  The two most frequently mentioned substances, alcohol in combination with other drugs, and cocaine, were stable; and the rapid growth seen previously for emergency department visits involving Ecstasy and GHB has waned. 

DAWN relies on a sample of hospital emergency departments chosen to represent hospitals nationally and in 21 metropolitan areas.  In 2002, 437 hospitals participated in DAWN.

The six most frequently mentioned drugs of abuse in the 2002 DAWN were alcohol in combination with another drug, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, anti-anxiety drugs (benzodiazipines) and narcotic pain killers.  Together they accounted for 7 out of every 10 drug mentions in drug abuse-related emergency room visits in 2002. 

DAWN estimates there were significant increases in emergency room visits related to drug abuse in three of the 21 metropolitan areas surveyed in DAWN, New Orleans, which increased 22 percent from 2001 to 2002 from 3,729 visits to 4,566; Buffalo, which increased from 3,356 to 3,844 in one year; and Baltimore, which had an 11 percent increase in drug-abuse-related visits to hospital emergency departments from 11,625 in 2001 to 12,904 in 2002.  Significant decreases in drug abuse visits were found in Dallas and San Diego.

Marijuana:  Marijuana mentions in hospital emergency rooms increased from 19 to 47 mentions per 100,000 population from 1995 to 2002, with the increase affecting patients in all age groups.  Increases in marijuana mentions were evident in Newark, Miami and Baltimore.  Decreases occurred in Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle.

Prescription Drugs:  Abuse of anti-anxiety drugs (benzodiazipines) and narcotic pain relievers were each mentioned as often in hospital emergency rooms as heroin or marijuana in 2002, but ranked below mentions of cocaine and alcohol.  Together, anti-anxiety drugs (benzodiazipines), antidepressants and narcotic pain medications constituted 287,572 emergency department mentions in 2002, or 24 percent of total emergency department drug mentions.  Narcotic pain medications accounted for 10 per cent of total drug mentions in hospital emergency department visits related to drug abuse in 2002.  Over the eight-year period from 1995 to 2002 mentions of narcotic pain medications rose 163 percent from 45,254.

Cocaine: Cocaine mentions were statistically unchanged from 2001 to 2002, but have increased 47 percent since 1995, from 135,711 to 199,198 in 2002.  Over one-fifth of the cocaine mentions in 2002 were attributed to crack.

Heroin:  Heroin mentions were statistically unchanged from 2001 to 2002 but increased 35 percent since 1995 from 69,556 to 93,519 in 2002.  There were increases in heroin mentions in Seattle, Buffalo, Denver and Baltimore and decreases in mentions in Dallas, Phoenix, and San Diego.

Methamphetamine:  Amphetamines and methamphetamine accounted for 39,340 mentions in hospital emergency departments in 2002.  There was no statistical change from 2001 to 2002, but these mentions have increased 54 percent since 1995 when there were 25,515 mentions.  Mentions of amphetamines and methamphetamine were concentrated in six metropolitan areas in the Western U.S., San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix, Seattle, Los Angeles and Denver.  There were large increases in St. Louis, Minneapolis and Atlanta, as popularity of the drug moves Eastward.

Ecstasy, GHB, PCP and LSD:  Increasing trends in emergency department mentions of Ecstasy (MDMA) and GHB appear to have leveled off with GHB mentions lower in 2002 than in 2000, dropping from 4,969 to 3,330.  PCP mentions in emergency rooms increased 28 percent from 1995 to 2002.  There was a 42 percent increase from the 5,404 seen in 2000 to 7,648 in 2002.  There were significant increases in PCP mentions in Washington D.C., Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Dallas.  Chicago had a decrease in mentions of PCP, declining 48 percent from 874 in 2001 to 459 in 2002.  Estimates of LSD mentions in emergency rooms decreased, with 12 of 21 surveyed metropolitan areas posting declines.

Inhalants:  Mentions of inhalants in emergency rooms increased 187 percent from 522 in 2001 to 1,496 in 2002, but show no consistent pattern from year to year.  Denver was the only metropolitan area, among 21 surveyed, to exceed 50 mentions of inhalants in 2002.

Alcohol in Combination with other drugs:  Mentions of alcohol in combination with another drug, while statistically unchanged from 2001 to 2002, have increased over the long term, 1995-2002, by 24 percent, from 166,897 to 207,395.  Significant increases were found in Seattle, Buffalo, New Orleans and Baltimore.  Decreases were noted in Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, and San Francisco.

The demographics of emergency department drug-abuse-related visits indicate increases for patients age 18-25 from 127,110 to 140,475 from 2001 to 2002.  This compares to an increase from 88,540 to 101,541 in the age 45 to 54 group and an increase from 26,036 to 30,987 in the age 55 and older group.

The full report is available online at http://DAWNinfo.SAMHSA.gov

SAMHSA, a public health agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the lead federal agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment and mental health services in the United States.

 

This page was last updated on 25 August, 2003
SAMHSA is An Agency of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services