Narcotics related death in the Kabul Forensic Medicine center
Keywords:
Narcotics, Addicts, Dead body, Forensic MedicineAbstract
Introduction: Narcotics and psychotropic substances are substances whose small amounts cause significant changes in the body, mind or both. Narcotics pass through the blood brain barrier and cause disturbances in mood and perception. The spectrum of these substances and some medical spices such as: opiates, alcohol, hashish, cocaine, 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (oxatasi or tablet K) and so on. Deaths caused by narcotics poisoning are cases in which at least one or more narcotics are detected in the body
Objectives: obtaining the mortality due to narcotics and psychotropic related deaths in forensic cases
Method: The research was conducted through descriptive cross sectional study.
Results: Out of 2838 fatalities that were referred to the Kabul Forensic Medicine center during 2017 and 2018 years, (14%) fatalities were due to narcotics and the rest were due to other causes of death. Deaths due to narcotics in 2017, compared to 2018, showed an increase of 17.47%. The majority of cases were in the range of 21-40 years (an average of 30 years) which included 58.2 % of entire cases: (97%) cases were males and (3%) cases were females, (57.5%) single, most of them were unemployed (39.3%), low educated and illiterate cases were 53.39% and the lowest cases were with higher education (8.98%). The highest incidence happened in the winter (51.69%), and the lowest in the summer (13.8%). The most common cause of narcotics-related death were opiates (75.7%) and a significant of the narcotics were MDMA (5.8%). Most cases occur in the first (17%), fifth (16%), eighth (15%) and third (11.65%) security districts of Kabul city
Conclusion: Drug-related fatalities make up about one-seventh of all forensic fatalities, which are on the rise, mostly among young, male, single, illiterate, unemployed, and low-income people. Most of the causes of drug-related deaths are opium and addicts. The significant point of cases was MDMA (K tablet) (5.8%), which has become common among young people in recent years. Most incidents occur in the winter and from central and western parts of Kabul.
