Since 2010, the number of fatalities caused by overdoses in the United States has increased by a factor of 50 due to the combining of drugs like fentanyl with cocaine and methamphetamine.
A study published in Addiction by UCLA researchers indicates the lethal risk posed by opioids and stimulants laced with illicitly made synthetic opioid fentanyl.
In 2021, there were more than 100,000 drug overdose fatalities in the United States. A synthetic opioid was present in three-quarters of them.
Prescription opioids were first to blame for the rising tide of overdose deaths that began around the year 2000. In 2010, a new wave of heroin usage emerged. The third trend was the dramatic increase in fentanyl abuse in 2013. The use of stimulants has resulted in this purported fourth wave.
The researchers identified “stimulant-fentanyl co-involvement” as an important factor in the issue, citing a unique pattern exhibited over time and by location and sociodemographic groupings. Cocaine-fentanyl is more prevalent throughout the Northeast, and methamphetamine-fentanyl is more commonplace in the rest of the nation.
Fentanyl has been discovered in almost every other illegal substance, which may account for some fentanyl-plus-stimulant overdoses.
Naloxone may be purchased over the counter and used to counteract the effects of an opioid overdose. Opioid addiction may be treated with various medications, though they are ineffective against amphetamine overdoses, and nothing else on the market comes close.
According to a report, a daycare in New York City where a 1-year-old boy died after exposure to fentanyl kept a kilogram of the opioid on top of children’s play mats used for resting.
Police said three more children were taken to the hospital, where they were administered Narcan and are currently doing OK. The presence of fentanyl was verified by examination of waste from one of the children.
Federal prosecutors have charged daycare owner Grei Mendez and renter Carlisto Acevedo Brito with conspiracy to sell drugs, resulting in death, and possession with intent to sell narcotics, resulting in death.
