Acute heroin fatalities in San Francisco. Demographic and toxicologic characteristics.

The mortality rate due to heroin overdosage in San Francisco has increased dramatically since 1968 and now stands as one of the highest in the United States. While the numbers of heroin fatalities in many eastern United States cities have declined substantially in the past few years, the figures for San Francisco and the other West Coast areas continue to increase. The group of heroin overdose victims from the 1970 through 1973 period is more predominantly Caucasian and younger than from the 1963 through 1965 period. In nearly all of the victims, the presence of morphine (a heroin metabolite) was noted in bile or urine, and in about half the results of blood alcohol tests were positive. Measurement of blood morphine concentrations in the victims showed no significant difference from the concentrations noted in a control group of heroin addicts dying from causes other than overdosage.