Toxicology reports are identifying deadly drug cocktails containing various combinations of heroin, synthetic opioids and cocaine at increasing rates. The heightened use of these deadly drug cocktails is driving the rates of cocaine-related overdoses upward. In recent years, these rates had shown signs of stalling, according to a new analysis by U.S. News & World Report.
Using the CDC's WONDER database, U.S. News determined the number of cocaine-related overdose deaths that occurred from 1999 to 2015. Researchers adjusted the overdose numbers for those involving opioids and those not.
"When there are no opioids involved in cocaine-overdose deaths you see an overall decline in recent years," Christopher M. Jones, PhD, an acting associate deputy assistant secretary with the HHS, told U.S. News. "But when you look at cocaine and opioids together, we see a more than doubling in the number of overdoses since 2010, with heroin and synthetic opioids increasingly involved in these deaths."
The U.S. News examination of CDC data determined 6,784 people died of a cocaine-involved overdose in 2015. Among these, 2,565 also involved heroin and 1,077 involved a prescription pain reliever. In 1,542 overdose deaths, fentanyl was detected. Overall, approximately 63 percent of overdoses involved an opioid.
"I think what we are seeing play out is a poly-substance issue that's linked to the opioid epidemic," said Dr. Jones.
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