DRUG DEATHS RISE IN NEW MEXICO

ALBUQUERQUE -- More New Mexicans are dying from drugs.

Substance intoxication caused 347 deaths in New Mexico last year, according
to a report from the state Office of the Medical Investigator. Fourteen
other people died of alcohol intoxication.

"That there's a drug problem I don't think is a surprise to anyone," said
Dr. Sarah Lathrop, OMI epidemiologist. "But it's still distressing."

The OMI's annual report, released last week, details 5,183 deaths across
the state that the office was called in on last year. The OMI investigates
sudden, violent or untimely deaths or those in which a person was found
dead from an unknown cause.

The office handled about 35 percent of all deaths in New Mexico last year
- -- 59 percent of them from natural causes.

Drug deaths have risen steadily over the last 10 years, jumping by 17.5
percent in 2003 alone, Lathrop said.

Many people died with multiple drugs in their system, she said.

"We also found through studies from the state Health Department things like
the lack of access to methadone-maintenance treatment are having a deadly
impact," Lathrop said. "Only 13 percent are currently enrolled in methadone
programs. There are waiting lists. There's just not enough services out
there. That is likely a reason we are seeing the increase in these drug
deaths."

More than half of all homicide victims -- 56 percent -- had reportable
levels of ethanol, the main intoxicant in alcohol. More than 42 percent of
drivers who died in traffic crashes and 56 percent of pedestrians killed
tested positive for ethanol.

Ethanol also was present in 38 percent of all adult suicides and 41 percent
of accidental-shooting victims. Nearly 58 percent of the 19 people who died
of exposure had ethanol in their system.

The OMI investigated 358 suicides in 2003, up slightly from 356 the
previous year.

New Mexico habitually leads the nation in suicides among children, Lathrop
said. Last year, child suicides increased more than 47 percent to the
highest number since 1994.

Twenty-eight children, most of them boys, committed suicide last year. Two
were 9-year-olds.

Men ages 25 to 34 were the most likely to kill themselves; 48 percent of
all suicides were committed by whites.

Guns were used in most suicides, accounting for more deaths than all other
methods combined. Twelve of the children who killed themselves used a gun,
although most juveniles hanged themselves.

Seven of the 1,342 people who died accidentally in the state last year were
shot to death, more than twice as many accidental shootings as in 2002.

Boys ages 15 to 18 accounted for the highest number of accidental deaths
among children, but the highest overall number of accidental deaths came
among males ages 35 to 54.

Motor-vehicle fatalities -- 495 of them -- accounted for the largest
portion of the accidental deaths.

Homicides investigated by the OMI were down nearly 2 percent last year, to
187. About half of those people were killed by a gun.

Twenty-two children, most of them Hispanic teenage boys, were homicide
victims. Five children were killed before they were old enough for first grade.

Among homicide victims overall, 77 percent were men, 43 percent were
Hispanic and 40 percent were between the ages of 25 and 34.

The OMI investigated 3,111 deaths by natural causes, including 43 different
ailments from heart disease to pneumonia.

The office cautioned, however, that it does not investigate most natural
deaths, so those figures are not representative of all natural deaths in
New Mexico.

The largest number of natural deaths by far -- 1,429 -- was attributed to
heart disease, followed by cancer at 319.