Fentanyl-laced cocaine causes a huge increase in fatal overdoses

Multiple substance or drug overdose deaths occurred during the 10-year study period. multi-substance Cocaine and opioid overdoses increased seven-fold, rising from 0.8 per 100,000 deaths in 2011 to 5.9 per 100,000 deaths in 2021.

Mortality from psychostimulants (drugs such as methamphetamines and amphetamines) and opioid overdoses also increased dramatically from 0.3 in 2011 to 6.7 in 2021, a 22-fold increase.

By 2021, nearly 80% of cocaine overdose deaths were opioid-related. Similarly, 65.7% of psychostimulant overdose deaths involved opioids.

“This report highlights that drug overdose mortality rates with cocaine and drug overdose mortality rates with psychostimulants continue to rise … Notably, the majority of drug overdose deaths from these drugs were opioid-related.” Merianne Rose Spencer The lead author of the report, a researcher at the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Healthline.

Over the same period, cocaine and psychostimulant drug overdose deaths without opioid involvement did increase.

However, the increases for individual drugs (without opioid involvement) were relatively modest compared to the explosive increase in deaths from drugs with opioid involvement. Overdose deaths from cocaine alone have doubled over the past decade, from 0.7 per 100,000 in 2011 to 1.5 per 100,000 in 2021. Meanwhile, psychostimulant deaths without concomitant opioids increased six-fold from 0.5 per 100,000 in 2011 to 3.3 per 100,000 in 2021. .

Interestingly, in the first 5 years of the study period, psychostimulants alone caused more deaths from overdose initially than when used in combination with opioids. However, by 2017, deaths from opioid-related psychostimulants exceeded those from psychostimulants alone, and have increased rapidly since then.

The CDC report also found regional variations in overdose deaths. The majority of drug overdose deaths involving both cocaine and opioids occurred in the northeastern United States. His 84.5% of cocaine deaths in the region involved opioids.

The western region had the lowest opioid involvement rate at 73.4%.

Deaths from psychostimulant overdose followed a similar trend. The highest co-involvement of opioids was in the Northeast, where it was found in 80.6% of overdose deaths. The rate of opioid co-involvement was also the lowest in Western countries at 57.5%.

deaths from drug overdose Explosive growth in America in recent years. Opioids, especially high-potency synthetic opioids like fentanyl, have been identified as culprits by both medical professionals and law enforcement. Of the approximately 107,000 overdose deaths in the United States in 2021, 80,411 were found to have been associated with some form of opioid.

New findings from the CDC are clearly consistent with this trend.

“This report highlights that opioid involvement continues to drive an overall increase in drug overdose deaths in the United States, where cocaine overdoses and drugs like methamphetamine are often not the only causes of overdose deaths,” Spencer said.

Dr. Reis Bora, Medical Director of California Poison Control A professor of emergency medicine and clinical pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco, told Healthline the study shows how opioids have permeated the U.S. illicit drug supply.

“this [study] This adds a new dimension to how much crossover there has been… The public and the medical community in general may have the impression that all these drugs are being used in silos, but the reality of street drug use is that no one really knows what is being supplied. ” he said.

The CDC report did not specifically address whether the multiple substance use involved in overdose deaths was intentional or accidental. In other words, it is not clear whether the users intentionally sought out different drugs and used them in combination, or whether the drugs they were using were contaminated with other substances.

To health care professionals and law enforcement officials like Bora, it’s clear why opioids are included in other medicines. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are Cut other drugs to increase potency and benefits.

“Fentanyl is certainly pervasive in the pharmaceutical supply,” Prof Vora said. “And this study really shows the fact that people aren’t the only ones who think they use opioids. It’s really everyone.”

With fentanyl and other powerful opioids on the rise, Bora urges everyone to learn more about life-saving overdose reversing drugs. Naloxone is also known by the trade name Narcan.

“We hope that naloxone will become a household word,” Vora said. Learn about naloxone and take a brief training on it. Because that will give you the knowledge and medicine to actually save lives. ”

learn to recognize Here are the signs of an opioid overdose.

A new CDC report finds that many stimulants now contain fentanyl. This combination of fentanyl and stimulants has been associated with a significant increase in overdose deaths.