Drug abuse causes a large number of deaths in young people. Despite the fact that the number
has decreased in recent years, it is still a major concern for our community. Drug related mortality
is used as an indicator of abuse, and in Galicia these statistics are kept by the Observatorio de
Galicia sobre Drogas. Analytical confirmation is done in the Forensic Toxicological Service of
the Legal Medicine Institute of the University of Santiago de Compostela. The present study
reflects the results for 2005, when 39 cases of death were suspected of drug abuse, of which
37 were analytically confirmed. Of the latter, 90% of them were males, and the median age
was 35. Cocaine (56%) and opiates (54%) were the most frequently identified drugs, and
poly-consumption was confirmed in 82% of the cases. Blood concentrations of drugs were
very variable, and a bad correlation between opiates in blood/urine and hair was found