Medical examiners taking part in the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) said that overdoses of heroin, cocaine, and alcohol mixed with other drugs topped the causes of drug-related deaths in 2000, Substance Abuse Funding News reported April 9.
The report, ‘Mortality Data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network 2000’, found that in 30 cities, more than half of the deaths reported to DAWN were drug-induced and involved multiple drugs.  The data was based on death reports made to DAWN in 2000 from 137 medical examiner jurisdictions from 43 cities.
Among the jurisdictions taking part in the study, the highest number of drug-related deaths were reported from Los Angeles, Calif, 1, 192; Philadelphia, Pa., 942; New York City, N.Y., 924; Chicago, Ill., 869; and Detroit, Mich., 704.Source: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  May 2002