Smoking drugs is associated with more overdose deaths than injecting drugs, report finds

CNN
—

The rate of overdose deaths related to drug smoking has risen sharply in recent years, overtaking injection as the main route of drug use responsible for such deaths. new report From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report released Thursday reviewed information from crime scene investigations, witness reports and autopsy data. They then categorized overdose deaths by evidence of smoking, injection, drug ingestion, or inhalation. Researchers compared data on drug deaths from January to June 2020 with data from July to December 2022. By the end of 2022, smoking was the most common form of drug ingestion associated with overdose deaths.

Specifically, the rate of overdose deaths from smoking increased by almost 74% between 2020 and 2022, from 13.3% to 23.1%. Over the same period, the rate of injection overdose deaths decreased from 22.7% to 16.1%.

More than 109,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2022 alone. Almost 70% of deaths involved synthetic opioids, most of which were illegally manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, slightly modified forms of medical prescription drugs and often deadly. .

The quickest way is to smoke drugs. reach the brain. The report said people may have switched from injecting drugs to smoking because of the perceived lower risk of overdose. Users may also feel “more in control” of the amount of medication they take, the researchers said. However, fentanyl is such a powerful drug that even small amounts can be fatal.

The CDC report said other reasons people made the switch include that smoking can affect: There are fewer negative health effects such as abscesses. Fentanyl users often inject fentanyl several times a day, which can exhaust their veins. Smoking eliminates injection site problems.

Knowing this trend can help harm reduction workers provide users with safer smoking materials in addition to fentanyl test strips and naloxone, and the health risks associated with sharing smoking materials with other drug users. can be reduced.

Molly Reid, epidemiologist whose research focused on access to safer smoking devices and said many harm reduction organizations have syringe service programs, but with this information about smoking they could expand their offerings. .

“In some cases, if people only have access to a free syringe, they may choose to inject it because that's what's available,” said Reed, who was not involved in the new study.

Reed said it would be good to further develop research comparing the risks of injecting fentanyl and smoking. If what is known about the dangers of heroin is consistent with fentanyl, then “what is driving this overdose trend is not the fact that people are smoking the drug more, but rather that fentanyl is highly lethal.'' It’s about gender.”

“Smoking is still likely to be safer than injecting, but it's not enough to compensate for the additional risks of fentanyl,” Reid said. “We definitely need more naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and more overdose awareness education.”

The number of deaths due to drug overdose is Best ever According to the CDC, it will increase in 2022, with fentanyl being a key factor contributing to the increase.tentative data A report released by the agency on Wednesday suggests that 2023 could be another devastating year. More than 111,000 people died from drug overdoses in the 12 months to September. Synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, were involved in more than two-thirds of these deaths.