Cocaine overdose is rising across the United States, but overall drug mortality rates show promising signs of a decline.
Cocaine-related deaths rose nearly 5% between 2022 and 2023, with new CDC data showing, almost rising 60% Since 2015.
Doctors say the rise is linked to the joint use of cocaine and fentanyl. Cocaine and fentanyl can be used intentionally together or cocaine mixed with fentanyl that users don’t know about.
Overall, cocaine mortality rate in 2023 was 8.6 per 100,000 people in crack or powder form. By comparison, the proportion of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl was 22.2 per 100,000, and the rate of psychostimulants such as methamphetamine was 10.6.
The CDC said the increase in cocaine deaths is consistent with the increase in fentanyl in illegal drug supply in the mid-2010s, showing a trend that “continues until 2023, which began around 2011.” Masu.
The list of places with the most cocaine overdose deaths in 2023 began in Washington, DC, with 31.9 deaths per 100,000 people and then Delaware, 26.5. Rhode Island, 20.5. Vermont, 21.4. Maryland, 16.7.
Total cocaine-related overdose deaths increased by nearly 5% between 2022 and 2023.
However, some states saw significant increases, including those in Alabama, California, Delaware, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington.
Dr. Joseph Paramar, a drug epidemiologist at New York University School of Medicine, said:
‘The third wave is fentanyl. The fourth wave is kind of informal, but we all refer to it, fentanyl and stimulants.
“The increase in cocaine deaths is fully driven by joint use with fentanyl. The increase without fentanyl appears to have remained at a level.
The top 10 states round out with the most cocaine overdose deaths were Maine, Connecticut, Ohio, New Jersey and Michigan.
Maine’s overdose rate was 17.6. Connecticut continued closely at a rate of 16.8. Another important condition, Ohio, recorded an overdose rate of 15.1. New Jersey’s rate was slightly higher at 12.5, with Michigan reaching 11.6.
State showing the most severe increases in cocaine overdose deaths in Texas (+75.0%), Virginia (+61.4%), Alaska (+41.4%) and Ohio (+36.4%) are rural areas with access to drug treatment There is a large range of local resources that may be scarce, and education on the risks of drug use is more limited.
Border states like Texas may also see an influx of illegal street drugs that are not in close proximity to the cartels pushing these drugs across the border.
Dr. Akshaya Bhagavathula, an epidemiologist at North Dakota State University, told Dailymail.com:
Unlike heroin and fentanyl, cocaine is a stimulant that induces intense happiness and arousal.
Cocaine overdose deaths have fluctuated since the 1980s, peaking in 2006 with 2.5 deaths per 100,000 people and fell to 1.3 in 2010. . The data comes from CDC
It affects the brain’s reward centers, controlled by the neurotransmitter dopamine.
Overdose causes a sudden increase in blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature and seizures. The main causes of death during cocaine overdose are stroke or cardiac arrest.
Much of the public’s attention has been in fentanyl and other opioids, but when the US reported last year that the CDC had dropped from 32.6 per 100,000 in 2022 to 31.3 per 100,000 in 2023. I saw a faint hope of hope. 4% decline.
Since its heyday in the 1980s, cocaine overdose death rates across the country have been very different over the years. In 2003, there were 1.8 deaths per 100,000 people. This rose to 2.5 in 2006 and fell to 1.3 in 2010.
However, around 2015, Dr. Paramar and his colleagues said the fourth wave of the drug crisis began and cocaine deaths rose sharply. The majority of deaths were driven by cocaine and fentanyl when further analysis of the autopsy results were performed.
Cocaine mortality rate Meanwhile, during that time, it has become relatively stagnant.
And while many of the country’s illegal cocaine supplies are contaminated with fentanyl, many overdose without knowing that cocaine is not tightened, it is because people are deliberately using it. It’s not that there’s no.
Brian Townsend, a retired supervisory special agent at the US Drug Enforcement Agency, told Dailymail.com:
Over the past decade, prescriptions for stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin have skyrocketed 58% since 2012.
He added: Cocaine fills that gap as a widely available illegal stimulant.
Dr. Paramar, who specializes in trending trends in studying people who endure overdose, says that collecting more complete data on what led to overdose and what they thought they were taking. “And I sound common sense, I know, but I know, but I can’t interview people who have died.”
“When someone dies, the only thing you can see is toxicology.
“Just because it was in someone’s blood sample, it didn’t mean they used it, it was the cause of death. Did cocaine contribute? Cocaine actually helps to reverse fentanyl a bit. It could be.”
