ABSTRACT
The life-threatening risk for drug addicts is the accidental/unexpected overdose (in Germany mostly caused by opiates). The problem of drug addiction, which encompasses all aspects of the individual's life, is accompanied by the additional negative reinforcement of the permanent danger of a sudden fatal outcome. The causes for an accidental fatal intoxication originate from the different qualities of heroin, the reduced tolerance of the body and carelessness in consuming drugs. These determinants are influenced by several indirect phenomena, as for example psycho-social, therapeutic, legal and economic problems. Furthermore, we have often observed critical life events shortly before death and/or a latent inclination to suicide.
Subject(s)
Poisoning/etiology , Poisoning/mortality , Population Surveillance , Substance-Related Disorders/complications , Causality , Cause of Death , Comorbidity , Drug Contamination , Drug Tolerance , Germany/epidemiology , Humans , Life Change Events , Poisoning/psychology , Prospective Studies , Recurrence , Socioeconomic Factors , Suicide/psychology , Urban PopulationABSTRACT
Based on a multidisciplinary approach (social-scientific questionnaire and forensic-pathological investigations), a typology of the drug-related fatalities in Hamburg during the period from July 1991 to June 1992 was achieved. A distinction between 3 types of addicts is proposed. Each group represents a different consumption pattern: (1) the opioid type, (2) polyvalent-drug users, and (3) primary alcoholics. With respect to these 3 types of abuse, some medical (concentration of alcohol and opioids in the blood) and social-scientific data (age at the beginning of the drug career, consumption of different drugs, distribution of age and sex, the quality and frequency of contact to facilities of the drug aid in Hamburg) are discussed.
