For more than a decade, Baltimore?s death rate from drug and alcohol abuse has been three to four times higher than that of the nation as a whole, says a long-term city Health Department report.
In six of the 12 years from 1995 through 2006, drugs and alcohol proved more lethal than violence, as intoxication-related deaths exceeded the number of homicides, according to the report.
During the same period, however, overall intoxication deaths fell 25 percent, from a peak of 321 in 1999 to 241 in 2006, the report said.
“This important report demonstrates that while there has been progress, we still have far to go in reducing drug use and its fatal consequences in Baltimore,” said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, the city health commissioner. “It is critical that as many people as possible have access to effective drug treatment.”
The 24-page report, which documented 3,700 intoxication-related deaths in the 12-year span, found treatment woefully lacking despite the addition of more rehab and clinic slots.
Dr. Michael Hayes, an addiction treatment specialist at Maryland General Hospital, said the report affirmed more treatment has become available in recent years, but demand still far outstrips supply.
“We have a lot more work to do,” Hayes said.
The report surveyed 12 years of autopsies by the state medical examiner in which drug or alcohol abuse was listed as primary cause of death.
Sharfstein called the report the most accurate accounting yet of drug overdose deaths in Baltimore.
Among the report?s other findings:
» Black males accounted for two-thirds of intoxicant-related deaths from 2003 to 2007.
» Deaths from cocaine abuse nearly doubled from 2005 to 2006. Cocaine overdoses increased from 52 in 2005 to 116 in 2006, a jump attributed in part to the use of cocaine and heroin together.
» Deaths from methadone abuse rose steadily, from seven in 2001 to 61 in 2006. But the report said that in most of these cases, other substances like pain medication may have played a role.
» Heroin continued to be the most lethal drug in the city, contributing to nearly 77 percent of drug-overdose deaths since 1997.
