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A study of deaths related to drug abuse, based on information available in France and Europe, shows that data on such deaths are divergent and difficult to compare between countries because the definition of "death related to drug abuse" may vary from country to country. For this reason, the author attaches little importance to the use of such data as an indirect indicator for assessing the incidence and prevalence of drug abuse. The author carried out an in-depth study of 99 deaths of this type recorded by the police in the Paris area in 1983, which showed that 80 per cent of the cases involved heroin that had been injected intravenously. An analysis of the biographical background of persons who had died as a result of drug abuse revealed that, in addition to severe drug intoxication, the length of drug abuse and psychopathological disorders, a number of so-called "risk situations" were important factors contributing to their deaths. The risk situations included use of heroin for a long period of time, recent discontinuation of heroin use, regular and intensive use of psychotropic substances and alcohol, and injection of drugs in public places where there was no way of testing the drugs beforehand.
