[Mortality among drug addicts 1980-1989. A comparative study of fatal poisonings among drug addicts examined at the institutes of forensic medicine in Arhus and Oslo].

Cases of fatal poisonings among drug addicts examined at the Institutes of Forensic Medicine in Aarhus (n = 238) and Oslo (n = 263) are compared and discussed on the basis of the availability of illicit and medical drugs during the 1980s. The annual number of deaths in age groups over 30 years increased in both countries. Heroin and/or morphine-related deaths comprised one-third of the Danish material compared with three-quarters of the Norwegian material. The registered medical drugs propoxyphene, methadone and ketobemidone accounted for half of the Danish cases. Alcohol and benzodiazepines were present in more than one-third of the cases in both countries.