ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Published Online: 1 July 1981
Page Count: 8

Narcotic-Related Deaths in the District of Columbia: 1971–1979
Zimney, EL
Deputy medical examiner and chief medical examiner, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, D.C.

Luke, JL
Deputy medical examiner and chief medical examiner, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, D.C.

(Received 10 January 1981; accepted 6 February 1980)

Abstract

Two hundred eighty-seven deaths directly related to narcotic abuse occurred in the District of Columbia between July 1971 and December 1979. Factors contributing to death in some cases included lack of opiate tolerance as well as the conjoint abuse of ethanol. Free morphine was identified more often in the blood of victims dying rapidly than in the blood of those with longer post-injection survival. A statistically significant correlation between the number of heroin-related fatalities and the purity of heroin available to the user was observed over the 8½-year study period.

Keywords:
toxicology, death, narcotics, heroin

Paper ID: JFS11385J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS11385J
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