NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE EPIDEMIOLOGIC ...

Beginning in 2003, SAMHSA’s national DAWN
Live! increased the number of hospitals reporting to
the national system and enhanced the surveillance of
drug-related hospital ED mentions to provide expanded
and more rapid local reporting on such activity.
In South Florida, DAWN is currently recruiting
new hospitals for the system in Broward and Palm
Beach Counties to complete coverage for the region’s
newly expanded national MSA. The new area is
named the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale MSA. DAWN will
also expand to the Tampa/St. Petersburg MSA in
Florida as well.
Unweighted data on ED cocaine reports in Miami-
Dade County were accessed from DAWN Live! for
the first 6 months of 2004. Cocaine was clearly the
most commonly involved illicit drug in local emergency
department visits, accounting for 50 percent of
the 5,163 Miami-Dade drug abuse reports in the first
half of 2004 (exhibit 4).
Most (72 percent) of the 2,594 Miami-Dade cocaineinvolved
ED patients were male. Thirty percent were
non-Hispanic Whites, 48 percent were non-Hispanic
Blacks, and 18 percent were Hispanic/other. Cocaineinvolved
ED patients were 30 years of age or older in
77 percent of the reports, which continues a pattern
of older cocaine ED patients. The patients’ ages were
as follows: less than 1 percent (14) were age 12–17,
11 percent were 18–24, 25 percent were 25–34, and
63 percent were age 35 or older. Crack cocaine was
specifically mentioned in 58 percent of the cocaine
reports in which the route of administration was
noted in the medical record during the first half of
2004.
Broward County drug-related ED episodes are based
on a review of two Broward County hospitals participating
in DAWN during the first 6 months of 2004.
The network is expanding, and data from more hospitals
will be included in future reports. Cocaine was
clearly the most commonly reported illicit drug in
local emergency department visits, accounting for 44
percent of the 1,198 Broward drug abuse reports in
the first half of 2004 (exhibit 5).
Most (71 percent) of the 523 Broward cocaine ED
patients were male. Fifty-four percent were non-
Hispanic Whites, 38 percent were non-Hispanic
Blacks, and 7 percent were Hispanic/other. Cocaineinvolved
ED patients were 30 years of age or older in
74 percent of these cases, which continues a pattern
of older cocaine ED patients. The patients’ ages were
as follows: less than 1 percent were in their teens, 10
percent were age 18–24, 54 percent were 25–34, and
32 percent were age 35 or older. Crack cocaine was
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EPIDEMIOLOGIC TRENDS IN DRUG ABUSE—Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
specifically mentioned in 17 percent of the cases in
the first half of 2004.
Addiction treatment profiles showed 1,674 BARC
clients in treatment for cocaine in the first half of
2004, representing 49 percent of BARC’s 3,416 clients.
For Spectrum, 38 percent of its 641 clients, or
244 patients, in the first half of 2004 were seeking
treatment for cocaine addiction. Combined, the programs
reported 1,919 cocaine treatment cases, or 47
percent of the 4,057 total cases in the first half of
2004. Most clients were older than 35, and most were
non-Hispanic Whites.
Powder cocaine and crack are still described as
“widely available” throughout Florida. Cocaine is
still the most commonly analyzed substance by the
Miami-Dade and Broward Sheriff’s Office crime
labs. It accounted for 10,496 cases in Miami-Dade
for the 12-month period from October 2003 to September
2004 and for 2,839 items analyzed in Broward
County in the shorter period from January to
June 2004. The second most commonly analyzed
substance was marijuana in both counties. The number
of cocaine cases analyzed in Miami-Dade is up
12 percent from last year, and the total in Broward is
down 9 percent from the 3,136 cases in the first 6
months of 2003. However, beginning in 2001, the
Broward Crime Lab began to work only those cases
submitted by the State Attorney’s Office, and of
those cases only the items requested. This has resulted
in about a 20-percent decrease in the number
of items tested.
According to the National Drug Intelligence Center,
in South Florida powder cocaine sells for $18,000–
$26,000 per kilogram wholesale, $700–$800 per
ounce, and $40–$110 per gram retail. Crack cocaine
sells for $700–$800 per ounce, $100 per gram, and
$10–$20 per “rock” in South Florida.
In 2003, current cocaine use was reported in results
of the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey by 2.2
percent of Broward County high school students
(down from 2.6 percent in 2001) (exhibit 6). This was
the lowest proportion in the State. Among Miami-
Dade County high school students, 3.2 percent reported
current cocaine use in 2003 (down from 4.0
percent in 2001). In Palm Beach County, 4.6 percent
of high school students reported current cocaine use
in the same survey. The proportion for the high
school students in all of Florida was 4.0 percent,
compared with 4.1 percent for students nationwide.
Nationally, the 2004 Monitoring the Future Survey
reported that current cocaine use (defined as any use
Proceedings of the Community Epidemiology Work Group, Vol. II, January 2005