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Netherlands National Drug Monitor - Research and Documentation ...

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Figure 4.7 Age distribution of deaths from overdose of opiates in the periods 1985-1989, 1990-<br />

1994, 1995-1999 <strong>and</strong> 2000-2004 <strong>and</strong> 2005-2008<br />

100<br />

%<br />

80<br />

60<br />

40<br />

20<br />

1985-1989 1990-1994 1995-1999 2000-2004 2005-2008<br />

>=65<br />

35-64<br />

15-34<br />

1 4 3 6 10<br />

15 35 50 59 70<br />

82 61 47 35 20<br />

Percentage of deaths per age group. Source: Cause of Death Statistics, CBS.<br />

Total deaths<br />

The EMCDDA protocol charts only the volume of acute (overdose) deaths. <strong>Drug</strong> users<br />

may also die of other causes, such as accidents <strong>and</strong> illnesses incurred by injecting drugs<br />

(indirect drug-related deaths). In addition, drug users may die of causes that are neither<br />

directly nor indirectly related to their drug habit (age-dependent basic death rate) These<br />

three components – overdose deaths, indirect deaths <strong>and</strong> basic death rate – constitute<br />

the total death rate among drug users.<br />

• By means of data on deaths among drug users in Amsterdam (see following paragraph)<br />

<strong>and</strong> an estimation of the total number of problem hard drug users in the<br />

<strong>Netherl<strong>and</strong>s</strong>, it was possible to make an estimate of the total death rate.<br />

• An estimated 480 problem hard drug users died in the <strong>Netherl<strong>and</strong>s</strong> in 2001, with a<br />

confidence interval of 340 to 660 deaths.<br />

• Of these total deaths, it is estimated that 11% were attributable to the basic death<br />

rate that is not related to drugs; an estimated 23% of the deaths were related directly<br />

to drugs <strong>and</strong> 66% related indirectly to drug use (Cruts et al., 2008b).<br />

4 Opiates<br />

101

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