NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE EPIDEMIOLOGIC ...

ace, just under one-half identify as White (47.8 percent),
followed by Asians (11.9 percent), Blacks/African-Americans
(9.8 percent), American Indians/Alaska
Natives (0.8 percent), and Native Hawaiians/Other
Pacific Islanders (0.3 percent). About one-quarter of
residents (23.5 percent) identify with another race (not
specified). Furthermore, 5 percent report two or more
races. Residents of Hispanic/Latino origin may be of
any race. Therefore, they are included in the appropriate
racial categories above. Nearly 45 percent of Los
Angeles County residents are of Hispanic/Latino origin;
approximately 31 percent of Whites are not of
Hispanic/Latino origin.
According to an April 2004 Policy Brief from United
American Indian Involvement and the UCLA Ralph
and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies,
3 percent of the Nation’s 3.7 million American Indians/Alaska
Natives (AIs/ANs) reside in the Los Angeles
area. The largest concentration of urbanized
AIs/ANs is located in the county. Further, the local
AI/AN population grew 35 percent from the 1990 to
the 2000 U.S. Census, compared to the overall county
growth of 7 percent.
Los Angeles County encompasses approximately
4,080 square miles and includes the islands of San
Clemente and Santa Catalina. The county is bordered
on the east by Orange and San Bernardino Counties,
on the north by Kern County, on the west by Ventura
County, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. Los
Angeles County’s coastline is 81 miles long.
Two of the busiest maritime ports in the world—
Long Beach and Los Angeles—are located in Los
Angeles County. The Port of Long Beach is the Nation’s
busiest maritime cargo container facility, while
the Port of Los Angeles ranks second, according to a
report by the National Drug Intelligence Center
(NDIC) in 2001. Los Angeles County is also home to
the world’s third busiest airport—Los Angeles International
Airport. The airport handles more than 1,000
cargo flights each day; 50 percent of this activity is
international in origin or destination (NDIC 2001).
Residents of Los Angeles County primarily rely on
automobiles for transportation, and the Los Angeles
area has one of the most intricate highway systems in
the world. Of these, Interstates 5, 10, and 15 connect
the area to the rest of the Nation. Interstate 5 runs
from the U.S.-Canada border to the U.S.-Mexico
border and links Los Angeles to other key west coast
cities, such as San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco,
Sacramento, Portland, and Seattle. Interstate 10
originates in Santa Monica, California, and runs
across the United States to I-95 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Interstate 15 originates in the area and runs
EPIDEMIOLOGIC TRENDS IN DRUG ABUSE—Los Angeles County
northeast through Las Vegas, Nevada, to the U.S.-
Canada border in Montana. In addition, State highways
1 and 101 are extensively traveled roadways.
The National Drug Threat Assessment 2004 identified
14 primary drug market areas throughout the
United States that serve as major consumption and
distribution centers of cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine,
heroin, and methylenedioxymethamphetamine
(MDMA or ecstasy). California is one of
the most active drug smuggling and production areas
in the United States and contains three market areas—Los
Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco.
This is caused, in part, by the State’s proximity to the
Pacific Ocean and Mexico. Los Angeles is a nationallevel
transportation hub and distribution center, and it
is the only primary market for all five of the major
drugs of abuse listed above (NDIC 2004).
Data Sources
This report describes drug abuse trends in Los Angeles
County from January 1997 to June 2004. Information
was collected from the following sources:
• Drug treatment data were derived from the
California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs
(ADP), California Alcohol and Drug Data
System (CADDS), and correspond to Los Angeles
County alcohol and other drug treatment and
recovery program admissions for July 2001 to
June 2004. It should be noted that admissions for
heroin treatment are disproportionately represented
because of reporting requirements for facilities
that use narcotic replacement therapy to
treat heroin users. Both private and publicly
funded narcotic treatment providers must report
their admissions to the State, while for other
drug types, only publicly funded providers must
report.
• DAWN emergency department (ED) data for
the Los Angeles division of the Los Angeles
metropolitan area were accessed from
SAMHSA’s restricted-access database—DAWN
Live!—for the first 6 months of 2004 (based on
an update, January 18, 2005). Thirty-four of the
79 eligible hospitals in the Los Angeles area are
in the DAWN sample. The sample includes 37
emergency departments (some hospitals have
more than 1 ED). The data are incomplete, based
on 23 to 26 EDs reporting each month over the
6-month period. The data are unweighted and,
thus, are not estimates for the Los Angeles area.
The data cannot be compared to DAWN data for
2002 and before, nor can the preliminary data be
used for comparison with future data. Only
Proceedings of the Community Epidemiology Work Group, Vol. II, January 2005 97