Of the 2.1 million visits associated with drug misuse or abuse in 2009,
• 35.3 percent involved pharmaceuticals alone.
Understanding that a visit may appear in more than one group, DAWN found that out of all drug
misuse or abuse ED visits:
• 1,079,683 ED visits, or 52.1 percent, involved pharmaceuticals;
• 973,591 ED visits, or 47.0 percent, involved illicit drugs; and
• 658,263 ED visits, or 31.8 percent, involved alcohol.
Although the overall number of ED visits attributable to drug misuse or abuse was stable from 2004
to 2009, increases were seen in ED visits involving nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals with no
other drug involvement (117% increase), pharmaceuticals with illicit drugs (97%), pharmaceuticals
with alcohol (63%), and pharmaceuticals combined with both illicit drugs and alcohol (76%).
Illicit Drugs
For 2009, DAWN estimates that 973,591 ED visits involved an illicit drug. That is, 47.0 percent of
all the drug misuse or abuse ED visits during the year involved one or more illicit drugs taken alone
or in combination with pharmaceuticals, alcohol, or both; specifically:
• cocaine was involved in 422,896 visits, or 43.4 percent;
• marijuana was involved in 376,467 visits, or 38.7 percent;
• alcohol was involved in 291,553 visits, or 29.9 percent;
• heroin was involved in 213,118 visits, or 21.9 percent;
• stimulants, including amphetamines and methamphetamine, were involved in 93,562 visits,
or 9.6 percent; and
• other illicit drugs—such as PCP, MDMA (Ecstasy), and hallucinogens—were each involved
in less than 4 percent.
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