Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Stimulants ― United States, January 2018–June 2024
Lauren J. Tanz, Kimberly D. Miller, Amanda T. Dinwiddie, R. Matt Gladden, Alice Asher, Grant Baldwin, Brandon Nesbit, Julie O’Donnell
Abstract
Drug overdose deaths involving stimulants have increased in the United States since 2011. This report describes characteristics of stimulant-involved overdose deaths during January 2021-June 2024 using CDC's State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System data and trends by drug and race and ethnicity during 2018-2023 using CDC's National Vital Statistics System data. Overall, 59.0% of overdose deaths involved stimulants, 43.1% co-involved stimulants and opioids, and 15.9% involved stimulants and no opioids during January 2021-June 2024. Persons who died of overdoses involving stimulants and no opioids were older (aged ≥45 years; 66.5% versus 44.2%) and more frequently had a history of cardiovascular disease (38.7% versus 21.2%) than those who died of overdoses involving stimulants and opioids. Stimulant-involved overdose death rates increased from 2018 to 2023 (cocaine: 4.5 per 100,000 population to 8.6; psychostimulants with abuse potential, primarily methamphetamine: 3.9 to 10.4). Increases were largest for psychostimulants among non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native persons (11.0 in 2018 to 32.9 in 2023) and cocaine among non-Hispanic Black or African American persons (9.1 to 24.3), driven by deaths co-involving stimulants and opioids. Increases in stimulant-involved deaths suggest the need for expanded access to evidence-based stimulant use disorder treatments, evaluation of medication-based treatments for stimulant use disorder and treatments for co-occurring substance use disorders, and engagement of persons who use stimulants and who might be missed by opioid-focused prevention efforts.