Deaths from acute reaction to drugs and psicoactive substances in Galicia in 2005

Abstract

Drug abuse causes a large number of deaths in young people. Despite the fact that the number has decreased in recent years, it is still a major concern for our community. Drug related mortality is used as an indicator of abuse, and in Galicia these statistics are kept by the Observatorio de Galicia sobre Drogas. Analytical confirmation is done in the Forensic Toxicological Service of the Legal Medicine Institute of the University of Santiago de Compostela. The present study reflects the results for 2005, when 39 cases of death were suspected of drug abuse, of which 37 were analytically confirmed. Of the latter, 90% of them were males, and the median age was 35. Cocaine (56%) and opiates (54%) were the most frequently identified drugs, and poly-consumption was confirmed in 82% of the cases. Blood concentrations of drugs were very variable, and a bad correlation between opiates in blood/urine and hair was found