Highlights from this report include: in 1981, 46 percent of the patients in emergency room (ER) drug-abuse related cases reported through the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) were male and 54 percent were female; 58 percent of the patients were White, 24 percent were Black, and 6 percent were Hispanic; 48 percent of the patients were aged 18 to 29 years, while 39 percent were 30 years and older; 46 percent of the episodes involved multiple drugs, with males accounting for the largest percent of these patients (49 percent); suicide was the primary motive in 40 percent of the episodes; and the most frequently mentioned drug was alcohol-in-combination (24 percent). In 1981, there were 2,825 drug-abuse related medical examiner cases reported to DAWN. Of these deaths, 59 percent of the decedents were male; 70 percent were White, 22 percent were Black, and 6 percent were Hispanic; 36 percent were between the ages of 18 and 29, while 62 percent were age 30 and older; and 63 percent of the episodes involved use of multiple drugs, with overdose being the primary cause of death in a majority of the cases (81 percent). This report presents annual data on ER drug-abuse related episodes and drug-abuse related medical examiner cases for the year 1981, as reported through DAWN. Data for the report were obtained from hospitals in 26 metropolitan areas, and a sample of 177 hospitals outside the primary metropolitan areas. Tables and appendixes