The Washington Post (7/19, Ovalle) reports, “The evolving overdose crisis in the United States is making another lethal turn, federal disease trackers reported” in the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief No. 474. Investigators concluded that “increasingly, people dying from opioids are also using stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine.” In fact, the analysis “shows that between 2011 and 2021, the age-adjusted rate of overdose deaths involving opioids and cocaine nearly quintupled, far outpacing the rate of deaths involving only cocaine.”
ABC News (7/19, Kekatos) says that the report also “found the percentage of deaths involving cocaine and opioids varied by region,” with the Northeast having “the highest percentage at 84.5%” and the West having “the lowest at 73.4%.”
Related Links:
— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)