Emergency room visits related to the nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs, increased 21 percent from 2004 to 2005.

The latest estimates from SAMHSA’s Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) are available in a new report, Drug Abuse Warning Network, 2005: National Estimates of Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits.

The report shows that the total number of drug-related emergency room visits remained stable from 2004 to 2005. However, visits involving the nonmedical use of prescription or over-the-counter drugs increased from 495,732 to 598,542. The majority of these visits involved multiple drugs.

The full report is available on the SAMHSA Web site at https://dawninfo.samhsa.gov/files/DAWN-ED-2005-Web.pdf. 

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