NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE EPIDEMIOLOGIC ...

teens to persons in their early twenties, helps describe
its use among club-goers.
According to the National Drug Intelligence Center,
the retail/street-level price per MDMA tablet ranged
from $9 to $35 in the first half of 2004.
The Philadelphia ME first detected methylenedioxyamphetamine
(MDA) in the second half of 1999.
There have been 30 positive toxicology reports for
MDA through the first half of 2004, including 6 cases
in the first half of 2004.
Ketamine was first detected in decedents in Philadelphia
in 1996; it was detected in four decedents in
2000, four in 2001, two in 2002, three in 2003, and in
only one decedent in the first half of 2004. It is not
reported as widely available, and it is difficult to obtain.
Gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) reports totaled only
nine in the unweighted DAWN Live! data in the first
half of 2004. There is almost no familiarity of GHB
reported by focus group participants. The Philadelphia
ME does not test for GHB because it is produced
naturally as the body decomposes.
EPIDEMIOLOGIC TRENDS IN DRUG ABUSE—Philadelphia
INFECTIOUS DISEASES RELATED TO DRUG ABUSE
As of June 30, 2004, Philadelphia recorded 17,028
cumulative AIDS cases among adults (exhibit 7).
Among those cases, 6,121 involved injection drug
users (IDUs) (needle-sharers). Another 885 were in
the dual exposure category of IDUs who were also
men who had (unprotected) sex with other men
(MSM).
Cases reported with (unprotected) heterosexual contact
as a risk factor continued to exceed the historical
average. Heterosexual contact was the identified exposure
category in 19.3 percent of all AIDS cases
reported through June 30, 2004. In the year ending
June 30, 2004, heterosexual contact accounted for the
plurality of cases (42.7 percent) for the fourth consecutive
time.
The mortality of AIDS cases as of June 30, 2004, was
as follows:
• United States—57.3 percent
• Pennsylvania—51.4 percent
• Philadelphia County—48.9 percent
For inquiries concerning this report, please contact Samuel Cutler, City of Philadelphia, Office of Behavioral Health/Mental Retardation Services,
Coordinating Office for Drug and Alcohol Abuse Programs (CODAAP), 1101 Market Street, Suite 800, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
19107-2908, Phone: (215) 685-5414, Fax: (215) 685-5427, E-mail: .
Proceedings of the Community Epidemiology Work Group, Vol. II, January 2005 189