In 2001, there were over 638,000 ED visits related to drug abuse in the coterminous U.S. This translates to 252 visits per 100,000 population or 0.6 percent of all ED visits.
Seven categories of drugs accounted for 85 percent of ED drug mentions in 2001. The ED visits related to drug abuse most frequently involved alcohol (34% of mentions), cocaine (30%), marijuana (17%), benz-diazepams (16%), narcotic analgesics/combinations (16%), heroin (15%), other analgesics/combinations (12%), and antidepressants (10%).
From 2000 to 2001, there were significant increases in ED mentions of marijuana (15%, from 96,426 to 110,512) and cocaine (10%, from 174,881 to 193,034). Mentions of most other major substances of abuse were unchanged from 2000 to 2001.