Health Affairs February 14, 2024
In 2021, more than 100,000 Americans died from an illicit drug poisoning. While two-thirds of these fatalities involved fentanyl, nearly half of fentanyl-involved deaths included the co-use of simulants, such as methamphetamine and cocaine. Once a rare occurrence, methamphetamine-involved deaths increased from 545 in 1999 to 32,353 in 2021, a more than 50-fold increase. Individuals who use stimulants face additional risk, as methamphetamine and cocaine supplies are increasingly contaminated with fentanyl.
Racial and ethnically minoritized communities have been hit particularly hard by stimulant drugs. In 2021, American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adults had an age-adjusted methamphetamine-only mortality rate of 11.6 per 100,000, a rate four times higher than the non-Hispanic Whites (2.9 per 100,000). Among Black adults, methamphetamine involved...
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