The U.S. is in the throes of what researchers have deemed a “fourth wave” of the opioid crisis, a phase characterized by overdose deaths caused by the combination of stimulants and the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Overdose deaths in the U.S. surpassed 100,000 for the first time in 2021, fueled by the rise of synthetic opioids, which accounted for 75% of those deaths. Once propelled by prescription opioids and then heroin, the decadeslong crisis was overwhelmed by synthetic opioids in the mid-2010s.
Now it has taken on a new challenge: so-called polysubstance overdoses, which include more than one drug.
The proportion of overdoses involving fentanyl and a stimulant — most commonly cocaine and methamphetamine — increased more than fiftyfold from 2010 to 2021, a study published Thursday in the journal Addiction found.
This is how my father passed last month, only fentanyl and meth.
Even still, fentanyl and stimulants, if used properly, have a place as medicine. We shouldn’t blame the drug or even the addict.
We need to find those profiting over spiking their drugs and remove them from society.
You doing okay?
Sorta, but not really. My family was doxxed by some bad people, and that caused my father to run away and back slip into drugs as his paranoid schizophrenia made him think that the death threats he was getting were real (which they were sorta real). We found him after being missing for a week. He was comatose, naked and covered in chemical burns.
After he got out of the hospital, I brought him to another state where I live to try to take care of him. Only he slipped out and found some random person who sold fent spiked meth.
I found him dead on my couch.
The paramedics tried to resuscitate him, but he was already gone.
I’m looking into therapy now as I can’t get that image out of my head. Plus all the guilt of him dying in my care.
That’s awful. I hope justice finds its way to the people who drove your father to this.
And I hope you manage to find some peace. Just know that the cruelty inflicted on him wasn’t your fault.
Look into ART, it’s the weirdest treatment I’ve been through, but it really helped the trauma I had when I was a teen.
Also, a couple of things:
You can’t feel guilty. You did everything you could and therapy is definitely a good idea.
My condolences for your father.
Are fentanyl and stimulants used together in medicine that you’re aware of?
I have a degenerative bone disease that causes my bone marrow to turn into tumors. It’s really painful and I break things as I walk.
I’ve been on fentanyl patches when my pain gets too extreme. I also drink coffee when I don’t have the energy to do much due to my condition. I was taking stronger stimulants NuVigil in order to be able to function at work in a corporate job before I became 100% disabled for several years. Nowadays, I just stick to coffee or caffeine pills.
A lot of people mix uppers and downers like that. It’s just that coffee and caffeine are much more acceptable stimulants even if they work pretty close to the same…
I’d assume they meant separately but both have legit uses.
I was put on fentanyl (eventually) at the ER when I had a kidney stone and it was like night and day. And, contrary to what cops might think, I didn’t immediately become addicted.
Yeah, cops have zero clue about it unless they sell it on the side like a lot of them do…
I’ve never heard anyone blame the addict for fentanyl.
It’s the assholes that cut it into other drugs that are to blame.
Blaming the addict is common I’m finding. I’ve sadly experienced it a lot over the last month since my father passed from an over dosage.
Yeah people that don’t know usually blame addicts. Thankfully people that have been through it or know someone that has and they have empathy do understand.
I’ve lost a lot of friends.
A major cause is drug dealers not cleaning their scales. There’s no FDA oversight of illegal drug dealers and small enough quantities of fent that can still kill cam end up in other drugs they sell via dirty scales and other equipment
People need to clean their shit.