DRUG REPORT

The May 21 article by Sentinel reporter Henry Pierson Curtis, "Bad
research clouds state death reports," presents information in such a
way as to undercut the serious consequences of so-called designer
drugs. Its critique of an "official tally of rave-drug deaths" (the
Sentinel's words) missed the point that the list was not completely
vetted.

Our plan all along was to review each of the death reports to ensure
that it accurately reflected the purpose of the study -- to determine
the impact of the illicit use of club/designer drugs to the citizens
of Florida. By May 15, that review had reduced that number to 188,
with 97 cases listed as the cause of death (either as the result of a
single club/designer drug or one or more of these drugs) and an
additional 91 cases in which these drugs were present in the deceased.
The list continues to be vetted.

Contrary to the impression left by the Sentinel article, the Medical
Examiners Commission has been involved with this review from the
beginning. Its advice has been sought and followed.

We had removed, prior to publication of the article, the young boy who
died of a heart ailment, the 4-year-old who died in a hospital, the
infant-crib death and all of the senior citizens included in the
medical examiners' submissions.

We exercised care in how we used the information we gathered because
we knew that some of the deaths reported to us might not be related to
designer drugs. We sought to protect the privacy of the families of
the deceased. That is why we did not provide names to the Sentinel.
The reporter dug out those names and saw fit to publish them. My heart
goes out to the families of those named in the story. It is
unfortunate they had to undergo the additional sadness of public disclosure.

The greatest danger, however, is that the article is likely to leave
readers with the notion that concerns about designer drugs are
overblown. In truth, a year ago we knew little about this problem. By
asking hard questions, we now know that designer drugs are a
significant killer. While we continue to review cases of reported
deaths, as we have since the onset of our study, it is clear that
designer drugs -- taken alone or in combination -- represent a new
wave of drug abuse in our state and our nation.

James R. McDonough Director, Office of Drug Control, Tallahassee