Netherlands National Drug Monitor - Research and Documentation ...

Figure 4.8 Deaths among drug users in Amsterdam from overdose and other causes I , from 1993
160
Number
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Overdose
Other causes
Total
37 39 26 26 22 25 27 31 32 29 21 22 29 21 25 22
102 86 92 90 76 67 73 76 112 96 128 61 84 58 66 87
139 125 118 116 98 92 100 107 144 125 149 83 113 79 91 109
Number of deaths among people ever registered as opiate users with GGD Amsterdam, caused by an
overdose of opiates or other drugs or by reasons other than overdose. I. Other causes of death (such as
endocarditis, sepsis, lung disease, liver cirrhosis, suicide, accidents, violence, AIDS) of persons registered
with the GGD Amsterdam as ever having used opiates. Source: GGD Amsterdam.
International Comparison
• Annually, between seven and nine thousand people in the EU die following a drug
overdose, often involving opiates in combination with other substances. This can be
seen as the minimum number, since not all cases of drug-related deaths are registered
(EMCCDA, 2009).
• International comparison of the number of ‘drug deaths’ is hampered by discrepancies
in the definition of this term. For a number of countries from the EU-15 and for
Norway, sufficient data are available to enable a comparison in drug death trends.
Figure 4.9 shows the trend from 1995 for these countries in drug-induced deaths per
million inhabitants aged from 15 to 64.
4 Opiates
103