Drugs Connected To New Disease

A new and fatal disease among drug users was reported yesterday by a group of doctors in Los Angeles.

The doctors said they had observed 14 patients with an average age of 25 with different drug histories. Four of the patients the doctors observed died of "narcotizing angiitis." Twelve members of the group used methamphetamine, commonly called "speed."

The doctors said that because the patients all had used a variety of drugs-including meth, LSD, hashish, and heroin-it could not be specifically determined that speed caused the disease.

The disease, which destroys small and medium size arteries leading to major organs, has the characteristics of another disease called periarteritis nodosa, the doctors reported.