The article estimates the deaths and years of life lost due to use of illegal drugs in Canada in the year 2002. In 2002, for Canada, 1,695 deaths were attributable to illegal drug use, 0.8% of all deaths: 1,183 of men (1.0%) and 512 in women (0.5%). Main causes of illegal drug use-attributable death were drug overdose, suicide, and hepatitis C. In 2002 in total, 62,110 years of life were lost prematurely, 42,306 years among men and 19,805 years among women. Illegal drug use constitutes a major contributor to the burden of mortality in Canada. A mixture of prevention and harm reduction measures is proposed to reduce the burden of mortality associated with drug use.
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