Drug overdose deaths involving cocaine and methamphetamine in the United States have continued to rise over the past decade, but it is the presence of opioids that are driving these deaths, according to a new CDC report.
In a report published this weekTrusted Source by the CDC, researchers looked at drug overdose deaths in the United States between 2011-2021.
A seven-fold increase in cocaine-related deaths
During the 10-year study period, overdose deaths involving more than one substance or poly-substanceTrusted Source overdoses involving cocaine and opioids increased from 0.8 deaths per 100,000 in 2011 to 5.9 per 100,000 deaths in 2021 — a seven-fold increase.
The rate of overdose deaths involving psychostimulants (drugs like methamphetamines and amphetamines) and opioids also increased dramatically from 0.3 in 2011 to 6.7 in 2021 — a 22-fold increase.
In 2021, nearly 80% of all overdose deaths involving cocaine also involved an opioid. Similarly, overdose deaths involving psychostimulants involved opioids in 65.7% of cases.
“This report highlights that rates continue to rise for drug overdose deaths involving cocaine as well as for drug overdose deaths involving psychostimulants…Notably, the majority of drug overdose deaths involving these drugs involved an opioid” Merianne Rose Spencer,Trusted Source a researcher at the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and lead author of the report told Healthline.
Drug overdose deaths did increase for cocaine and psychostimulants without opioid involvement over that same period.
However, the increases for the drugs individually (without opioid involvement) were relatively modest compared with the explosion of deaths driven by those with opioid involvement. Overdose deaths from cocaine alone doubled in the past decade, from 0.7 per 100,000 in 2011 to 1.5 per 100,000 in 2021. Meanwhile, deaths from psychostimulants without opioid co-involvement increased six-fold from 0.5 per 100,000 in 2011 to 3.3 per 100,000 in 2021.
Interestingly, in the first five years of the study period, psychostimulants alone initially accounted for more overdose deaths than when involved with opioids. However, by 2017 psychostimulant deaths involving opioids surpassed psychostimulants alone and has climbed rapidly ever since.
