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Peter Duesberg and David Rasnick
TABLE4
Drug deaths and diseases in the USA
by age and sex 1990-1994 1,2,3
drugs % male % 18-54 years
cocaine users 70, 82*
hospitals 67 99
deaths 80
heroin users 69, 83*
hospitals 71 99
deaths 83
amphetamines users 80
hospitals 61 97
deaths 79
nitrites users 98* >98
hospitals deaths
all combined users 75, 786, 867 >75
hospitals 71
deaths 77
1. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Drugs, crime, and thejustice system. 1992.
2. U.S. Department ofHealth & Htiman Services. Annual emergency
department data 1993. Data from the DrugAbuse Waming Network
(DAWN) 1993; 81-110.
3. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Anmuil Medical
Examiner Data. Data from the Drug Abuse Waming Netivork (DAWN)
1994; 1-82, 1994.
4. Wesson D, Smith D. Cocaine: treattnent perspectives, in Cocaine Use in
America: epidemiologic and clinicalperspectives, N. Kozel and E.
Adams (eds.) NIDA US Dept. HHS, Washington, DC, 1985.
5. San Francisco Department of Public Health, Lesbian & Gay Substance
Abuse Planning Group. Lesbiati, Gay and Bisextuil Substance Abuse
Needs Assesstnent. 1991, August; Ascher MS, Sheppard HW,
Winkelstein JrW, Vittinghojf E. Does dmg use cause ALDS? Nature
1993; 362:103-104.
6. Clinton W, The White House. The National Drug Control Strategy:
1996. The White House, Washington DC, 1996.
7. Bureau ofjustice Statistics. 1988 Special Report—Druq Law Violators,
1980-1986.
ological distribution of recreadonal drug use is far from
random. Instead it is highly differentiated in the
American and European populations (Table 4). About
70-80% of the American consumers of hard recre-
ational drugs such as cocaine, heroin and ampheta-
mines are males over 18 years of age based on informa-
tion from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the NIDA,
The White House and Public Health Services other
than the CDC (Table 4). The National Drug Control
Strategy: 19%from the White House reports that 78%
of the drug users are males, and that 74% are 21-44
years old 53. Patients and deaths from drug diseases (see
3.3.) show essentially the same sex and age distribution
(Table 4). Almost all drug decedents are over 18 years
of age, and most are over 25 61'6Z'85 (see Table 4).
According to a German study the median age of death
of European intravenous users of cocaine and heroin is
30 years 39. Their American counterparts die between
25 and 44 years 41'86.
The drug epidemiology is further differentiated
based on sexual persuasion. While cocaine and heroin
are used independent of sexual preferences in all major
American and European cities, including New York 87'
,0, Baltimore 91'92 and Milan 93, nitrite inhalants are
almost entirely, and amphetamines are partially,
monopolized by male homosexuals (see 3.3.).
However, in contrast to the hard illegal drugs used for
psychoactive effects only (Table 4), those used specifi-
cally as sexual stimulants by male homosexuals like
nitrite inhalants are not recorded nadonally, neither by
the Department of Justice nor by any of the many divi-
sions of the Department of HHS. Therefore, we have
put together the pattern of drug use by homosexuals
from non-scientific reports and fronr sporadic reports
in the scientific literature.
Numerous non-scientific reports confirm the popu-
larity of the “gay drug” 94 (nitrite inhalants) among
male homosexuals in America and Europe 7'76'78'94"98
(see Table 5). The gay interest journal, aK, just sur-
veyed the availability of poppers which “seit Jahren von
vielen Leuten - vor allem Schwulen - beim Sex zwecks
Verstárkung der Lust verwendet wird” [used as a gay
drug for years] 99. The journal points out the fierce
competition among sex shops for the gay market, par-
ticularly in view of the enormous profit margins of over
1000%. Bottles containing poppers that cost less than
1 Sfr to produce sell for up to 58 Sfr in Zurich,
Lucerne, Bern, and Basel. According to the journal the
popper market has recently been upset because sales
have been banned in some Swiss states because amyl
nitrites, but not other nitrites, are listed as poisons by
the Federal Public Health Office, BGA.
In agreement with the non-scientific literature, the
AIDS epidemiologist David Ostrow reported that
nitrite inhalant use in a study of over 5000 male homo-
sexuals from Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles and
Pittsburgh, the MAC cohort, showed a “consistent and
strong cross-sectional association with ... anal sex” 10°.
The San Francisco Department of Health and the
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1. tbl. 1997, 50. árg.