Stimulant & Fentanyl Overdose in Native Communities
Stimulants include cocaine, methamphetamine (meth), MDMA, and prescription drugs like Ritalin and Adderall. Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid. Recently, toxic amounts of fentanyl have been found laced into stimulants sold on the street.
From 2015 to 2019, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) people reported higher rates of meth use than any other race/ethnicity (SAMHSA, 2021).
Compared to other ethnic groups, AI/AN people are at the highest risk of dying from a meth-related overdose
Fentanyl can be cut into illegally sold stimulants. The person using the drugs may not know that fentanyl is present in the drugs. Fentanyl is increasing the the number of deaths related to stimulant use.
In 2020, 47% of dealths from drug overdose involved stimulants (CDC, 2022).
In 2019, over half of deaths from stimulant overdoses also involved a synthetic opioid, which was most often Fentanyl (Hedegarrd, Minino, & Warner, 2021).
A medication called Narcan can reverse an opioid overdose. This means that it can help save someone ' s life if they took a stimulant laced with fentanyl and/or other opioids.
To order Narcan for free, visit https://okimready.org/overdose/
(Kariisa, Seth, Scholl, Wilson, & Davis, 2021).