[What should be kept in mind when a patient with illicit drug overdose is admitted to the emergency department?]

The admission in emergency wards of patients having problems with, or suffering from an overdose of, drugs is a habitual event. The main cause is alcoholic intoxication, followed by heroin abuse until about four or five years ago. Nowadays emergency care for an overdose of cocaine, or its derivatives, and synthetic drugs such as ecstasy or liquid ecstasy is growing. In this article, the author describes the protocols used in the Hospital Clinic and lists the most frequently observed intoxications in the emergency word.