Læknaneminn - 01.04.1997, Page 95

The drug-AIDS hypothesis *
TABLE2
Chronology of diseases and death from illicit recreational drug us in the US1,2,3
dmg event 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
cocaine death 2,938 3,285 3,633 3,687
hospital 80,355 101,189 119,843 123,423 142,878
amphetamines death 252 334 566 751
hospital 8,800 7,363 10,615 15,630 17,665
heroin death 2,260 2,782 3,558 3,522
hospital 33,884 35,898 48,003 63,232 64,013
all drugs death 6,246 6,870 7,602 8,541
hospital 371,208 393,968 433,493 460,910 518,521
1. Office of National Drug Control Policy. Drugs & Crinie Datn. Drugs & Crime Clearinghouse 1996; July 1996.
2. U.S. Dcpartment ofHealth & Human Services. Annual emergency department data 1993. Data from the DrugAbuse Waming Network (DAWN)
1993; 81-110,
3. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Annual Medical Examiner data. Data from the Dmg Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) 1994; 1-82,
1994.
number of illicit recreadonal drug users in America
soared from a negligible background to currently about
20 million who use drugs chronically, or about 8% of
the total US population of 250 million. In addition,
75 million Americans (30%) use such drugs occasion-
ally 5153. This sudden epidemic of drug addiction fol-
lowed a 40 year period (from World War II until the
upsurge in the 1970s) during which there was very lit-
tle illicit recreational drug use.
Prior to World War I, heroine, cocaine, and nitrite
inhalants were legal, and widely prescribed as medi-
cines and sold as recreational drugs 54'56. Those who
became addicted generated an early drug epidemic that
lasted about 35 years, “from around the mid-1880s
until the 1920s” 52. The concurrent diseases and social
consequences soon Ied to anti-drug legislation, which
together with the political situation of the wars ended
“the first cocaine epidemic” 52- 55'57. According to the
Bureau of Justice Statisdcs: “Cocaine abuse decreased
substantially by the 1920’s, and then virtually disap-
peared from the American scene until the 1970’s.
During the 1930’s drug interest dwindled due to con-
cern with the events in Europe. During WW II
international trafficking was eliminated. As the 1950s
ended, efforts to treat, rehabilitate and care for drug
addicts were made for the first time since the turn of
the century.” 52.
As of 1964 the Bureau chronicles the appearance of
the new American drug epidemic: “rapid rise in mari-
juana use; amphetamines and barbiturates move from
homes to the streets; rise in heroin addicts leads to
methadone maintenance pilot programs (1964). By the
late 1960s increases in cocaine, heroin and marijuana
use prompted concern about drugs...” In the 1970s
the “Vietnam war produces drug testing and depen-
dence among returning veterans.” And by 1980 “crack
appears in American cities” and “AIDS first described
in medical literature. Athletes die from overdoses,
showing the lethal implications of crack/cocaine
(1986)” 52.
The director of NIDA wrote in 1985, “Over the past
10 years, cocaine ... has evolved from a relatively minor
problem into a major public health threat.” 58. In
1986 scientists from the National Institute on Drug
Abuse (NIDA) published an epidemiological overview
of drug use in the US in Science. According to the
NIDA scientists cocaine addiction spiraled in the US
frorn “negligible” numbers in 1973 to 9,946 non-fatal
and 580 fatal medical cases in 1985 59 . The new
cocaine epidemic has since increased more than 10-
fold, raising the numbers of cocaine patients to 80,355
cases in 1990, and 123,423 in 1993 and 142,878 in
1994 26’51»-“ (see Fig. 2 andTable 2). Cocaine emer-
gencies hit a new record of 13,496 cases in California
in 1994, up from 3,688 in 1985 63. Even popular writ-
ers have accurately chronicled the rise of the new
American drug epidemic, as for example Jill Jonnes in
Hep-cats, narcs, andpipe dreams 55.
In step with its medical consequences cocaine con-
sumpdon escalated to unprecedented records. By 1996
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1. tbl. 1997, 50. árg.