Annual Causes of Death in the United States, incl. Marijuana

Annual Causes of Death in the United States



DRUG WAR FACTS
Compiled and updated by Douglas A. McVay
for Common Sense for Drug Policy, http://www.csdp.org/

Updated: January 2005
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Annual Causes of Death in the United States

Tobacco: 435,000 (see #1)
Poor Diet and
Physical Inactivity: 365,000 (see #1)
Alcohol: 85,000 (see #1)
Microbial Agents: 75,000 (see #1)
Toxic Agents: 55,000 (see #1)
Motor Vehicle Crashes: 26,347 (see #1)
Adverse Reactions
To Prescription Drugs: 32,000 (see #2)
Suicide: 30,622 (see #3)
Incidents Involving Firearms: 29,000 (see #1)
Homicide: 20,308 (see #4)
Sexual Behaviors: 20,000 (see #1)
Illicit Use of Drugs: 17,000 (see #1 and #5)
Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Such As Aspirin: 7,600 (see #6)
Marijuana: 0 (see #7)

1. "The leading causes of death in 2000 were tobacco (435,000
deaths; 18.1% of total US deaths), poor diet and physical
inactivity (400,000 deaths; 16.6%), and alcohol consumption
(85,000 deaths; 3.5%). Other actual causes of death were
microbial agents (75,000), toxic agents (55,000), motor
vehicle crashes (43,000), incidents involving firearms
(29,000), sexual behaviors (20,000), and illicit use of
drugs (17,000)." (Note: According to a correction published
by the Journal on Jan. 19, 2005, "On page 1240,
in Table 2, '400,000 (16.6)' deaths for 'poor diet and
physical inactivity' in 2000 should be '365,000 (15.2).'
A dagger symbol should be added to 'alcohol consumption'
in the body of the table and a dagger footnote should be
added with 'in 1990 data, deaths from alcohol-related
crashes are included in alcohol consumption deaths, but not in
motor vehicle deaths. In 2000 data, 16,653 deaths from
alcohol-related crashes are included in both alcohol consumption
and motor vehicle death categories." Source: Journal of
the American Medical Association, Jan. 19, 2005, Vol. 293, No. 3,
p. 298.)

Source: Mokdad, Ali H., PhD, James S. Marks, MD, MPH, Donna
F. Stroup, PhD, MSc, Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH, "Actual
Causes of Death in the United States, 2000," Journal of
the American Medical Association, March 10, 2004, Vol. 291,
No. 10, pp. 1238, 1241. A copy of the report is at
http://www.csdp.org/research/1238.pdf .

2. According to Canadian researchers, approximately 32,000
hospitalized patients (and possibly as many as 106,000)
in the USA die each year because of adverse reactions to
their prescribed medications.

Source: Lazarou, J, Pomeranz, BH, Corey, PN, "Incidence of
adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a
meta-analysis of prospective studies," Journal of the
American Medical Association (Chicago, IL: American
Medical Association, 1998), 1998;279:1200-1205, also
letters column, "Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized
Patients," JAMA (Chicago, IL: AMA, 1998), Nov. 25, 1998,
Vol. 280, No. 20, from the web at
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v280n20/ffull/jlt1125-1.html,
last accessed Feb. 12, 2001.

3. The US Centers for Disease Control reports that in 2001,
there were a total of 30,622 deaths from suicide in the US.

Source: Arias, Elizabeth, Ph.D.; Robert N. Anderson, Ph.D.;
Hsiang-Ching Kung, Ph.D.; Sherry L. Murphy, B.S.; Kenneth
D. Kochanek, M.A.; Division of Vital Statistics, "Deaths:
Final Data for 2001," National Vital Statistics Reports,
Vol. 50, No. 3 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health
Statistics, Sept. 18, 2003), Table C, p. 8.

4. The US Centers for Disease Control reports that in 2001,
there were a total of 20,308 deaths from homicide in the US.

Source: Arias, Elizabeth, Ph.D.; Robert N. Anderson, Ph.D.;
Hsiang-Ching Kung, Ph.D.; Sherry L. Murphy, B.S.; Kenneth
D. Kochanek, M.A.; Division of Vital Statistics, "Deaths:
Final Data for 2001," National Vital Statistics Reports,
Vol. 50, No. 3 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for
Health Statistics, Sept. 18, 2003), Table C, p. 8.

5. "Illicit drug use is associated with suicide, homicide,
motor-vehicle injury, HIV infection, pneumonia, violence, mental
illness, and hepatitis. An estimated 3 million individuals in the
United States have serious drug problems. Several studies have
reported an undercount of the number of deaths attributed to
drugs by vital statistics; however, improved medical treatments
have reduced mortality from many diseases associated with
illicit drug use. In keeping with the report by McGinnis and
Foege, we included deaths caused indirectly by illicit drug use
in this category. We used attributable fractions to compute the
number of deaths due to illicit drug use. Overall, we estimate
that illicit drug use resulted in approximately 17000 deaths in
2000, a reduction of 3000 deaths from the 1990 report."

Source: Mokdad, Ali H., PhD, James S. Marks, MD, MPH, Donna F.
Stroup, PhD, MSc, Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH, "Actual Causes of
Death in the United States, 2000," Journal of the American Medical
Association, March 10, 2004, Vol. 291, No. 10, p. 1242.

6. "Each year, use of NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs)
accounts for an estimated 7,600 deaths and 76,000 hospitalizations in
the United States." (NSAIDs include aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen,
diclofenac, ketoprofen, and tiaprofenic acid.)

Source: Robyn Tamblyn, PhD; Laeora Berkson, MD, MHPE, FRCPC; W. Dale
Jauphinee, MD, FRCPC; David Gayton, MD, PhD, FRCPC; Roland Grad, MD,
MSc; Allen Huang, MD, FRCPC; Lisa Isaac, PhD; Peter McLeod, MD, FRCPC;
and Linda Snell, MD, MHPE, FRCPC, "Unnecessary Prescribing of NSAIDs
and the Management of NSAID-Related Gastropathy in Medical Practice,"
Annals of Internal Medicine (Washington, DC: American College of
Physicians, 1997), September 15, 1997, 127:429-438, from the web at
http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/15sep97/nsaid.htm , last
accessed Feb. 14, 2001, citing Fries, JF, "Assessing and understanding
patient risk," Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology Supplement,
1992;92:21-4.

7. An exhaustive search of the literature finds no credible reports of
deaths induced by marijuana. The US Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN)
records instances of drug mentions in medical examiners' reports, and
though marijuana is mentioned, it is usually in combination with
alcohol
or other drugs. Marijuana alone has not been conclusively shown to
cause
an overdose death.

Source: Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), available on the web at
http://www.samhsa.gov/ ; also see Janet E. Joy, Stanley J. Watson,
Jr.,
and John A. Benson, Jr., "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the
Science
Base," Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, Institute of
Medicine (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999), available on
the web at http://www.nap.edu/html/marimed/ ; and US Department of
Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, "In the Matter of Marijuana
Rescheduling Petition" (Docket #86-22), September 6, 1988, p. 57.


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Available online at: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/
Questions, comments or suggestions for additions and modifications
may be addressed to Doug McVay at: dmcvay [at] drugwarfacts.org