Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Stimulants - United States, January 2018-June 2024.

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.