
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 8, 1995                   TAG: 9511080081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

DRUG ABUSE SENT 500,000 IN U.S. TO ER IN 1994

A half-million Americans wound up in hospital emergency rooms with drug-related problems last year, including a record number with cocaine-related episodes.

Cocaine figured in 28 percent or 142,000 of those emergency visits, up 15 percent from 1993, according to estimates released Tuesday by a federal agency that tracks the impact of drug use.

The drug-related episodes account for 0.6 percent of all 86 million visits to hospital emergency departments in 1994.

Thirteen percent of those treated for drug-connected problems had used heroin, sometimes in combination with cocaine, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The number of heroin-related episodes rose slightly from 1993 to 64,000.

Episodes involving methamphetamine drugs rose sharply, with 17,400 cases.

The most commonly reported motive for the drug use was an attempt at suicide. That was the reason in an estimated 38 percent.

by CNB