Deaths from methamphetamine overdoses are increasing across the United States, especially among blacks and Native Americans / Alaska natives, a new study warns.
“Although much attention has been paid to the opioid crisis, a methamphetamine crisis is quietly but actively gaining steam – especially among Native Americans and Alaska natives, who are being excessively affected by a number of health conditions,” said Dr. Researcher Nora Volkow said. , director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
The researchers found that lethal overdose methods more than quadrupled among U.S. Indians and Alaska natives from 2011 to 2018 (from 5 to 21 per 100,000 people). In this group, deaths for men increased from almost 6 to 26 per 100,000 and from almost 4 to 16 per 100,000 among women.
According to the NIDA report, black Americans are also experiencing a major boom in overdose methods. This is a worrying trend in a group that used to have very low mortality rates from methamphetamine overdose.
However, linked deaths are on the rise among all Americans, NIDA says. Overall, lethal OD rates rose from less than 2 to 10 per 100,000 men, and from 0.8 to 4.5 per 100,000 women – a more than fivefold increase from 2011 to 2018, the report found.
These findings, published Jan. 20 in JAMA Psychiatry, highlight the need to develop prevention and treatment strategies that target specific cultures, the researchers said.
Reducing access to education, high rates of poverty and discrimination are among factors contributing to the inequality in the health of American Indians and Alaska residents, the authors said.
“Native Americans and Alaska populations experience structural disadvantages but have cultural strengths that can be used to prevent methamphetamine use and improve health outcomes for those living with addiction,” Volkow added in a NIDA news release.
A holistic approach to well-being is a deep-rooted tradition among some Native American and Alaska Native groups, such as speaking circles and ceremonies. Using these traditions and other community-based approaches could be a way to prevent drug use among young people, the study team suggested.
According to researcher dr. Beth Han, also from NIDA, “Identifying populations with a higher dose of methamphetamine overdose is an important step in mitigating the underlying methamphetamine crisis. By focusing on the unique needs of individuals and the development of culturally appropriate interventions, we can start moving away from one-size-fits-all approaches and to more effective, tailoring.
There has been some recent good news when it comes to methamphetamine addiction: some prescription medications, in summary, help patients significantly reduce their use of methods, or stop altogether. A trial of the treatment was published Jan. 14 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Volkow said the ‘synergistic’ action of this combination of drugs – bupropion and naltrexone – is good news, which is the biggest effect of a large, randomized clinical trial in the treatment of methamphetamine.