CHICAGO -- More people die in accidents while under the influence of Quaaludes than of actual overdoses of the widely abused sedative that produces a drunken-like stupor, doctors say.
Methaqualone, marketed as Quaaludes, can cause poor judgment, impulsive actions, lack of motor coordination and sleepiness. Some abusers appear to be falling-down drunk.
'Methaqualone was first marketed in the United States in 1965 as a safe, non-addicting sedative and hypnotic drug,' Dr. Charles V. Wetli said Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
'Within a few years, its abuse potential became evident,' he said. 'Popular notions of euphoria and aphrodisiac qualities have made methaqualone hydrochloride a popular recreational drug of abuse for more than a decade.
He said three-quarters of the fatal accidents among Quaalude users involved motor vehicles. The drivers reportedly lost consciousness at the wheel, were speeding or failed to make necessary driving maneuvers.
'Sharp increases in methaqualone-related traumatic suicides, non-vehicular accidents and homicides have occurred since 1978,' Wetli said. 'The pattern of fatal methaqualone abuse has changed from an overdose phenomenon in the early 1970s to one of traumatic death.'
Wetli, deputy chief medical examiner in Florida's Dade County, reviewed 246 deaths related to abuse of the drug -- popularly know as 'ludes' -- in the Miami area between January 1971 and December 1981.
Drug overdose accounted for 68 deaths -- 40 accidental and 28 suicidal. Trauma accounted for 175 deaths -- 106 in motor vehicle and other accidents, 31 homicidal and 38 suicidal. Three deaths involved disease in which methaqualone abuse was judged incidental.
Wetli said 76 percent of the deaths occurred since 1977 and 72 percent involved fatal trauma.
'The effect of methaqualone, alone or in combination with other substances, is most reminiscent of that of acute alcoholic intoxication,' Wetli said.
'The rapidly increasing incidence of methaqualone-related vehicular deaths clearly emphasizes the potential danger to the public at large posed by those who use methaqualone as a recreational substance.'
Wetli said reports from the Drug Abuse Warning Network and elsewhere indicate that methaqualone abuse is now a nationwide problem.
Large quantities of counterfeit tablets, often adulterated with other drugs, are smuggled into the United States from South America. Sham 'stress' clinics that readily provide prescriptions add to the street supply.
