1 - National Criminal Justice Reference Service

COCAINE
1 . Eastern Region
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
After declining for several years, cocaine-involved deaths in New York have increased from
1990 (825 for the year) to the first quarter of 1991 (240, provisional data). In Philadelphia, too,
cocaine-positive toxicology reports increased 14.6 percent between the second half of 1990 and
the first half of 1991 (to 149); however, the percentage based on total deaths remained
relatively constant (58.4 percent in 1991). Similarly, in Miami, cocaine-related deaths in the
first half of 1991 (totaling 154) increased 47 percent over.the p~ous semiannual reporting
period (homicide accounted for 44 percent of these deaths); however, the 20 cocaine-induced
deaths in 1990 were the fewest recorded since 1982.
By r.ontrast, Washington, D.C., ME cocaine mentions dropped 53 percent between 1989 and
1990 (to 102)-from 57 percent of all 1989 drug deaths to 45 percent in 1990. In Newark, as
well, the rate of cocaine-positive toxicology reports, which had increased from 1985 to 1988,
has heen declining (376 in first 10 months of 1991). No cocaine death data were presented for
Atlanta or Boston.
While New York decedents in 1990 were preponderantly males, the proportion of females is
increasing (to 28 percent in 1990). In Miami, males accounted for 71 percent of cocaine-induced
deaths in 1991. In Philadelphia, the percentages of cocaine-positive toxicologies have been
increasing among both African-American and white males (to 73.5 percent and 35.9 percent,
respectively, in first half 1991). African-Americans remain the modal group (41 percent) among
New York cocaine decedents. Among Miami decedents (cocaine-induced), 34 percent· were
Hispanics, 34 percent were African-Americans, and 32 percent were whites; these decedents
included 3 Colombian "body packers." More than 70 percent of New York decedents are 30
or older. The mean age of Miami decedents is 47.9.
Alcohol mixed with cocaine is increasingly listed in Philadelphia toxicology reports.
In Miami, 16 infants died of maternal cocaine exposure (first quarter 1991)-level with 1990;
62 percent of these infants were African-Americans, compared to 81 percent in 1990. In New
York, the number of births to women using cocaine-after years of increasing-declined 23
percent between 1989 and 1990.
Over the past t\vo four-quarter periods, DAWN cocaine ER mentions have" declined in all seven
cities (despite increases in the most recent quarter in five cities: Boston, Miami, Newark, New
CEWG December 1991 9
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