Previous studies have found that American Indians/Alaska Natives also had the greatest increases in methamphetamine overdose deaths in recent years. Overdose deaths in the U.S. involving stimulants other than cocaine have risen sharply in recent years. Yet the increases in methamphetamine use and methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) have been much less dramatic. This suggests that the overdose risk among people who use methamphetamine has increased. The Institute studies or supports research on changes in the lab-made drug supply and how these emerging substances work in the brain, as well as their health effects and potential as therapeutic treatments. The annual sample for each grade is made up of roughly 16,000 students in 133 public and private schools, for a total of about 50,000 students in 420 public and private secondary schools.
Monitoring the Future Survey
- Information provided by NIDA is not a substitute for professional medical care or legal consultation.
- 2002 — NIDA-supported research leads to the FDA approval of buprenorphine and buprenorphine/naloxone, the first medications for opioid use disorder that can be prescribed in an office setting.
- Visual representations of Monitoring the Future data, opioid misuse and other topics.
- As a research psychiatrist, Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate how substance use affects brain functions.
- In addition, beginning with the class of 1976, a randomly selected sample from each senior class has been followed in the years after high school on a continuing basis.
Fourteen (14) drugs are classified as Schedule V. One example of a Schedule V drugs are cough medicines with 100 to 200 ml of codeine per dose. There are 260 drugs classified as Schedule I. Some examples of Schedule I drugs include ecstasy, heroin, synthetic heroin, LSD, marijuana, and peyote. Fentanyl and methamphetamine are the most dangerous drug threats the United States has ever faced.
To address this gap, the study authors analyzed data on overdose deaths involving psychostimulants other than cocaine from cause of death files in the National Vital Statistics System from 2015 to 2019. In 2020, more than 93,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, marking the largest one-year increase in overdose deaths ever recorded, according to provisional data from the U.S. This increase has largely been driven by rising overdoses involving synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl. Overdose deaths involving psychostimulants, and particularly methamphetamine, have also risen steeply in recent years, and many of these deaths involved use of an opioid at the same time. However, questions remain on how trends in methamphetamine use contribute to greater risk for overdose deaths. Illicit drugs, such as cocaine and synthetic opioids like fentanyl, continued to impact many lives, contributing to a rise in drug overdose deaths.
What are the effects of emerging drugs?
In 2023, provisional counts indicate that over 110,000 people in the United States died from drug overdoses. This figure encompasses a range of substances, including illegal drugs and prescription medications. Non-sanctioned, non-medical, or non-prescribed use of these controlled substances is considered drug abuse, often leading to Substance Use Disorder (SUD). These substances are likely to create physical or psychological dependence, contributing to concurrent mental health conditions such as Any Mental Illness (AMI) and Major Depressive Episode (MDE).
The completed survey from 2022 is nationally representative and represents about 75% of the sample size of a typical year’s data collection. The Monitoring the Future investigators noted that schools opt-in to participate in the survey, and some schools that normally participate opted-out this year as they continued to operationally recover from the pandemic. All participating students took the survey via the web – either on tablets or on a computer – with between 95-99% of respondents taking the survey in-person in school. The researchers found that overdose deaths from stimulants other than cocaine almost tripled from 2015 to 2019.
Heightened Risk of Disease
In addition, the data show that people reporting frequent methamphetamine use (100 days or more per year) rose by 66% between 2015 and 2019, and people reporting the use of methamphetamine and cocaine together increased trends and statistics national institute on drug abuse nida by 60% during this period. These findings indicate that riskier use patterns may have contributed to the increased numbers of methamphetamine-involved overdose deaths during this time period. The front page of DrugAbuseStatistics.org features the most noteworthy drug abuse data, including overdose deaths, demographics, mental health, drug abuse treatment programs, and the cost of the War on Drugs. Reported use for almost all substances decreased dramatically between 2020 and 2021, after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and related changes like school closures and social distancing.
Trends in U.S. methamphetamine use and associated deaths
NIDA-supported research develops Flowlytics, a cloud-based data analysis software that allows a health care facility to track its inventory of controlled substances, such as opioids, helping to prevent drug theft (also known as drug diversion). The patented software can detect potential drug diversion incidents earlier than previous methods. 2008 — NIDA’s Monitoring the Future Survey reveals an increased misuse of prescription medications and over-the-counter cough syrups among high school seniors, accounting for 8 of the top 13 drug categories reported by this group. These recent data continue to document stable and declining trends in the use of most drugs among young people.
- NCHS systems receive and analyze data from death certificates, including cause-of-death information reported by state and local medical examiners and coroners.
- However, the number of people who reported using methamphetamine only increased by 43% over the same period.
- Therefore, students with less engagement in school – a known risk factor for drug use – may have been less likely to participate in the survey.
- Reports of vaping nicotine or vaping cannabis in the past year among adults 19 to 30 rose over five years, and both trends remained at record highs in 2023.
Drug-Related Deaths
In 2022, most reported substance use among adolescents held steady at these lowered levels, and these latest data show that this trend has continued into 2023. Reported use for almost all substances decreased dramatically from 2020 to 2021 after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and related changes like school closures and social distancing. In 2022, reported use of any illicit drug within the past year remained at or significantly below pre-pandemic levels for all grades, with 11% of eighth graders, 21.5% of 10th graders, and 32.6% of 12th graders reporting any illicit drug use in the past year. The researchers found that from 2015 to 2019, the number of overdose deaths involving psychostimulant drugs other than cocaine, (largely methamphetamine), rose from 5,526 to 15,489, a 180% increase.
This is of particular concern, as young adulthood is a critical period of continued brain, social, and academic maturation, and having methamphetamine use disorder during this vulnerable period could have long-lasting consequences. The researchers also noted shifts in the populations using methamphetamine between 2015 and 2019. Whereas, historically, methamphetamine has been most commonly used by middle-aged white persons, this analysis found that American Indians/Alaska Natives had the highest prevalence of methamphetamine use, as well as methamphetamine use disorder and methamphetamine injection.
Request for input on the National Drug Control Strategy
Death certificates do not always report the specific drugs involved, so death rates could also be underestimated. Through grants and contracts awarded to investigators at research institutions around the country and overseas, as well as through its Intramural Research Program, NIDA addresses the most fundamental and essential questions about substance use. This includes detecting and responding to emerging substance use trends, understanding how drugs work in the brain and body, identifying social determinants of substance use risk and SUDs, and developing and testing new approaches to prevention, treatment, and recovery.
