NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE EPIDEMIOLOGIC ...

Brownsville, and El Paso. African-American and
Mexican criminal groups transport large quantities of
the drug and make it available to local dealers. Local
independent dealers, street gangs, and other small
groups are the local distributors.
According to the NDIC, the price of marijuana was
stable in 2004. Joints sold for as low as $2, and grams
could be purchased for $10. Marijuana was sold retail
by the ounce for $125–$160 and wholesale by the
pound for $800–$1,000.
In FY 2004, nearly one-third (32.1 percent, n=740) of
the 2,306 drug abuse treatment admissions in Orleans
Parish were primary marijuana/hashish abusers (exhibit
2). Most (80.5 percent) were male. Marijuana
treatment admissions increased sharply from 11.5
percent in 1993 to 16.5 percent in 1994 to 28.2 percent
in 1995. However, from 1995 to 2004, the percentage
of marijuana treatment admissions remained
relatively stable.
More than one-half (52.8 percent) of the items analyzed
in NFLIS labs in the first half of 2004 contained
cannabis (exhibit 5). This was, by far, the drug
most often identified by the police labs.
In the unweighted data accessed from DAWN Live!,
there were 306 marijuana ED reports in the first half
of 2004, accounting for 27.5 percent of illicit drug
reports (exhibit 4).
Other Opiates/Narcotics
Indicators for opiates other than heroin remained low
over the last 7 years. Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) is
being replaced by OxyContin as the most popular
opiate of abuse in the New Orleans area, but hydrocodone
(Vicodin), propoxyphene (Darvon), alprazolam
(Xanax), oxycodone (Percodan), and hydromorphone
are the most widely diverted opiates.
Unweighted DAWN ED data for the first half of 2004
show 492 reports of opiates/opioids. Of the opiate/opioid
reports, 41.9 percent were hydrocodone
reports and 6.2 percent were oxycodone reports.
Among treatment admissions in Orleans Parish in FY
2004, 82 (3.6 percent) were for primary abuse of
“other opiates or synthetic opioids” or nonprescription
methadone. All but seven were White; 57 percent were
White females and 35 percent were White males.
Whites also dominated among these other opiate admissions
in other parishes. The proportions of these
admissions in East Baton Rouge and Ouachita Parishes
(ranging from 4.7 to 5.0 percent) were similar to that in
158
EPIDEMIOLOGIC TRENDS IN DRUG ABUSE—New Orleans
Orleans Parish, while those in the other parishes were
higher, ranging from approximately 7 to 21 percent. In
St. Tammany Parish, 21 of the 216 other opiate admissions
were for nonprescribed methadone, the highest
number in any of the 9 parishes represented in exhibits
2 and 3. Across the other eight parishes as shown in
exhibit 3, other opiates admissions were highest in St.
Tammany Parish (21.1 percent) and Lafayette Parish
(11.5 percent).
According to news reports, a large number of persons
abusing methadone were from pain management clinics.
Because of the large number of deaths, many of
which involved methadone and other opiates, the State
of Louisiana asked for an investigation of pain clinics
in the New Orleans area. The Legislative Branch has
closed down many of these clinics and placed stricter
guidelines on others.
Of the 3,964 items analyzed by NFLIS in FY 2004, 30
(0.8 percent) were “other opiates/narcotics” (exhibit
5); 21 (70 percent) of these were hydrocodone.
Club Drugs
Use of club drugs continues to be reported in clubs
and bars around the French Quarter area of the city.
Drugs such as methylenedioxymethamphetamine
(MDMA or ecstasy) and gamma hydroxybutyrate
(GHB) are particularly abused near large metropolitan
areas of the State where college populations are
large. Use of drugs such as ecstasy and flunitrazepam
(Rohypnol) and similar “date rape” drugs are on the
rise among youth in the city. Youth continue to be
lured to these drugs because of their “hipness” and
the myth that club drugs are safe. Ketamine abuse
appears to have declined in the city, with little mention
of the drug other than among teenagers experimenting
with it.
Unweighted data accessed from DAWN Live! for the
first half of 2004 show 35 MDMA reports, representing
3.1 percent of illicit drug reports (exhibit 4). ED reports
for other drugs used in the “club scene” were few in
number: nine phencyclidine (PCP) reports, six gamma
hydroxybutyrate (GHB) reports, and two lysergic acid
diethylamide (LSD) reports.
Of the 3,964 items analyzed by NFLIS in FY 2004,
only 17 were MDMA or methylenedioxyamphetamine
(MDA) (exhibit 5). Another two were ketamine and
one was LSD.
The retail cost of MDMA in the second half of 2004
was $15–$20 per tablet (exhibit 7).
Proceedings of the Community Epidemiology Work Group, Vol. II, January 2005