This paper describes a case series of deaths in northern Greece involving detectable amounts of amphetamines in urine or blood (including amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA and MDE). The cases were selected from among all autopsies conducted between January 1998 and December 2000 that used toxicological analyses. Autopsies were sampled from in an area with a population of about 5 million. Total number of autopsies utilizing toxicological analyses or estimated ecstasy use in northern Greece are not given in this paper, so mortality from ecstasy use cannot be estimated from examining the cases in this paper. Amphetamines were detected in urine and blood via immunoassay and thin-layer chromatography. All 7 cases of death after amphetamine use were male, ages ranging from 20 to 51 (20-47 for MDMA/MDE cases). MDMA was detected in 4 of 7 cases, and MDE in 1 of 7 cases (in addition to MDMA). Then other 3 cases involved amphetamine and methamphetamine. Cerebral edema and heart failure are commonly listed as causes of death, but 3 of 7 drowned in sea water, while 1 apparently died from "MDMA/MDE poisoning" after drug injection. The fatalities listed in this paper involve a slightly older population than featured elsewhere (e.g. Gill 2002). The older ages of the cases reported in this paper suggests that at ecstasy users in this region of Greece are significantly older than North American or European ecstasy users.
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