Expanded treatment options, increased naloxone distribution and targeted education campaigns likely led to a 37% reduction in overdose deaths from opioids combined with stimulant drugs other than cocaine, according to the results of a large federally funded study. The finding came from a planned study of secondary outcomes of the HEALing (Helping to End Addiction Long-Term) Communities Study (HCS), which tested an intervention encompassing data-driven adoption of evidence-based practices for reducing overdose deaths in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio. Death rates from specific combinations of opioids with stimulants other than cocaine, most commonly fentanyl mixed with methamphetamine, were 8.
9 per 100,000 adults in intervention communities compared to 14.1 per 100,000 adults in comparison communities that did not receive the intervention – a statistically significant difference. The findings were published today (Oct.
21, 2024) in JAMA Network Open . With the prescription medications that started the opioid crisis harder to obtain by the time the trial began, fentanyl was rapidly entering the illicit drug market in combination with methamphetamine, cocaine, counterfeit pills and other stimulants, said Bridget Freisthler, lead author of the new study and a professor at The Ohio State University. Now we have a whole new group of people developing addiction to opioids.
It was nice to see that we were able to achieve reductions in overdose deaths involving this comb.
