THE number of people being hospitalized for cocaine abuse hit record levels at the beginning of the 1990s, according to a new report.

　The study, released by a public statistics institute south of Los Angeles, said cocaine hospitalizations jumped 91 percent in Los Angeles county between 1990 and 1994.

　Counties in San Diego, Alameda and rural northern California saw increases topping over 100 percent.

　For the rest of the state, hospitalizations for cocaine-related abuse rose 79 percent during the same period.

　The study's authors said the hospitalization figures “form the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, in that they are far outnumbered by light to moderate cases of cocaine morbidity.”

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