A detailed examination of medico-legal records, a retrospective survey of five major public health institutions specializing in drug addiction treatment, and information obtained from the departmental directorates of Action Sanitaire et Social in Paris and the surrounding areas resulted in data that showed 80 percent of the cases involved people ingesting heroin intravenously. The biographical backgrounds of the people who died revealed that in addition to severe drug intoxication, the length of drug abuse, and psychopathological conditions, a number of "risk situations" had contributed to their deaths. These situations included long-term heroin use, recent discontinuation of heroin use, regular and intensive use of alcohol and psychotropic substances, and injection of drugs without prior testing of the drug. The author maintains that because the definition of "death related to drug abuse" varies between countries, data on such deaths are divergent and difficult to compare. Therefore, such information is of little use as an indirect indicator for assessing the incidence and prevalence of drug abuse. 15 references. (Author abstract modified)