Drug use and interpersonal violence. Barbiturates detected in homicide victims.

To characterize patterns of barbiturate use in homicide victims, we used data from the Los Angeles City Police Department and the Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office to study 4,950 victims of criminal homicide committed in that city in 1970-1979. Barbiturates were detected in 323 (7.9 per cent) of the 4,063 victims who were tested. Detectable levels were present most often in black victims (10.4 per cent), in equal proportions of Anglos and Hispanics (6 per cent), and least often among victims in other race-ethnic groups (4.1 per cent). Among specific subgroups, barbiturate use was greatest in black female victims (15.1 per cent). The detection of barbiturates more commonly among certain subgroups and in specific types of homicidal encounters suggests that barbiturate use may be linked to specific behaviors that precede homicide.