Læknaneminn - 01.04.1997, Blaðsíða 97

The drug-AIDS hypothesis ’
TABLE3
Drugs confiscated before and after the
“Drogen-Explosion” (drug explosion)
in Germany and the European Union'
Germany European Union
drugs before (year) (1995) (1994)
kilograms
cocaine 0.09 (1963) 1,846 29,000
heroin 1.8 (1968) 933 5,900
amphetamines 6.6 (1972) 138 1,900
cannabis 5.5 (1962) 14,245 733,400
doses
ecstasy 730 (1987) 380,858 1,250,000
LSD 10 (1967) 71,069 61,000
/. Springer Verl/ig. 50 Jahre Springer - 50 Jahre Zeitzeuge. Axel Springer
Verlag, Hamburg, 1996.
females have used illicit drugs at some time The
majority of these had used haschisch (cannabis), but
7.5%, or 1.1 million, males and 4%, or 0.6 million,
females had used hard drugs such as cocaine, heroin
and amphetamines. Among the 80 million current
Germans, 4 miilion are addicted to alcohol and
120,000 to heroin 10.
The German ‘Rauschgiftbilanz’ reported an 11.2%
increase in the consumption of illicit recreational drugs
in 1994 compared to 1993 83. And the number of first
time users reached 15,000 in 1995, up 5% from 1994
10. Most of these, 83%, were over 21 years old.
In 1993, 122,240 Germans were reported for drug
offenses and 29,086 were convicted. There were 2125
deaths officially blamed on drug use in Germany in
1991, and 1565 in 1995 10. This represents a 10-fold
increase since the decade that started in 1975 with 195
drug deaths (Fig. 2a). As can be seen in Fig. 2a the rise
in German drug deaths paralleled the rise in AIDS
cases. Like in America, German males outnumbered
females about 3 to 1 in the consumption of hard recre-
ational drugs (cocaine, heroin and amphetamines, use
of nitrite inhalants is not recorded in Germany) 82, and
9 to 1 in AIDS cases 84.
Drug consumpdon by the combined European
Union almost matches, and in the case of heroin, even
exceeds the American epidemic based on the amounts
confiscated (Table 3). For example, 5.9 tons of heroin
were confiscated in Europe in 1994 compared to 1.5
Fig. 2a. Comparison of annual drug deaths
and AIDS cases in Germany
2500 - -2000
O 10 0*0 O lO o
(''• t~- 00 OC ON Os o
ON O' O' o> Os o
Year
Source of drug deaths: Deutsche hauptstelle gegen
die Suchtgefahren, “Jahrbuch Sucht 97”, Neuland (pub.),
Gesthacht, Germany, 1996; Springer Verlag. 50 Jahre
Springer - 50 Jahre Zeitzeuge. Axel Springer Verlag,
Hamburg, 1996.
Source of AIDS cases: 120. Bericht des AIDS-
Zentrums im Robert-Koch-Institut iiber aktuelle epidemiolo-
gische Daten. AIDS-Forschung 1996; 11: 47-56.
The AIDS-Forschung report further states
that the cumulative incidence of AIDS in
Germany were 14,078 cases by December
1995, of which 9055 had died, and 90%
were males.
tons in the US (see above). At the same time, 29 tons
of cocaine, 1.9 tons of amphetamines, 733 tons of
cannabis and 61,000 doses of LSD and 1.25 million
doses of ecstasy were seized in the European Union in
1994 10.
A report of the European recreational drug explosion
by Springer Verlag mentions just two health conse-
quences: “heart arrest” from cocaine, “itching” and
“collapse of the immune system” from ecstasy 10.
3.3. Epidemiology and age distribution of recreational
drugs. In contrast to infectious diseases, the epidemi-
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1. tbl. 1997, 50. árg.