**LEAD STORY**
A major study has found that medical emergencies from cocaine use in all forms dramatically increased in California during the mid-1980s, dropped in 1990, and then surged through 1994. Useage of the drug is still on the rise. More seriously ill drug-users are found in San Francisco and its East Bay area than anywhere else in the state.
The study was conducted by the Public Statistics Institute in Irvine, California. The PSI is highly respected and tracks health care and disease issues. In 1995, the institute published a similar report on amphetamine use in California.
The report cited that thousands of cocaine users are going to hospital emergency rooms in record numbers every year. These patients suffer from: brain hemorrhage, cardiac arrest, chest pain, seizures, shock, fever and acure paranoia.
According to the report, such emergencies are only "the tip of the iceberg." There are said to be countless cases that "are often treated through primary care or drug treatment programs, or are simply not treated," the report said.
James K. Cunningham was the leader of the research team for the study. He said that any trends that were uncovered in the report probably underestimate the actual numbers of emergencies caused by cocaine use. This is because emergency room records may not account for all cocaine-related cases. Cunningham said, "Cocaine continues to be a major public health issue in California. We had hoped that the drop in emergency room admissions during 1990 signaled the end of the state's cocaine epidemic. Instead, it was just a pause in a mounting health problem."
The study found that in 1985 there were 3,688 cocaine-related emergencies. That number jumped to 10,660 in 1988. In 1990, cocaine-related emergencies dropped to 7,545. This decrease lasted only one year. The numbers have climbed steadily to the record high of 13,496 in 1994, the last year that records were made available.
The statewide rate of cocaine-related emergencies was about 42 per 100,000 people in 1994. San Francisco was 270 percent higher than the statewide average and nearby Alameda County was 108 percent higher.
The report also found that the number of blacks who were admitted for cocaine emergencies has soared. In 1985, the rate of blacks admitted was 63.5 per 100,000. In 1994, that number surged to 275 per 100,000.
Crack cocaine is said to be widespread in impoverished inner-city communities. Crack is also said to be far cheaper than powdered cocaine. Since the 1980s, the price of cocaine has been, for the most part, declining. The study said, "This may be encouraging heavy users to use more and encouraging occasional users to use more heavily."
(c) EmergencyNet News Service, 1996, All Rights Reserved.