According to a report from the CDC, it is not only opioids: the number of overdose deaths stimulants jumped from a third party in 2017

A new report reveals that Americans are increasingly overdosed and dying of stems such as cocaine and Ritalin as well as opioids.

In 2017, one third of overdose deaths were caused by stimulants, resulting in the death of 23,139 people.

While the opioid epidemic has hit the headlines in the press, it continues to hit the US, with a growing wave of stimulant use lagging far behind.

Health officials have expressed concern over the increase in the amount of cocaine containing fentanyl entering the United States.

Between 2016 and 2017, the number of overdose deaths related to stimulants – with or without opioids – increased by a third and stimulant-related overdoses also continue to increase, the Control Center reported Friday. and Disease Prevention (CDC).

Stimulants like cocaine, Ritalin and MDMA have been implicated in a third of opioid overdoses in 2017, an increase of 33% over the previous year, according to new CDC figures

Opioids may be at the heart of the current epidemic, but health officials warn that the dangerous misuse of other drugs is also increasing.

And different types of drugs are being used more and more together in combinations that can quickly become life threatening.

For example, in 2017, about three quarters of the blood of victims of a lethal cocaine overdose also contained at least one opioid.

Although it may seem that taking a stimulant, or "superior" alongside opioids – which are sedatives, or "inhibitors" – would lessen the effects of these, this is not the case. Is not the case.

The combination actually raises the risk of overdose in several ways.

The more drugs in the system, the more difficult it is for the body to treat them, which means that their toxicity can invade the body more quickly.

Opioid users who combine drugs with stimulants are also more likely to consume more opioids.

And, biologically, the opposite effects of stimulants and opioids on breathing are particularly dangerous.

As stimulants accelerate the body's use of oxygen, opioids slow down breathing. Taken together, these changes are a recipe for disastrous oxygen deprivation.

In recent years, a new problem has emerged. Synthetic fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is cheaper than cocaine and other drugs. Manufacturers and drug traffickers can therefore cut the top with the powerful reducer.

The result is that cocaine users – who may never have used opioids – take a drug 100 times more powerful than morphine, unwittingly.

Each year, overdose deaths due to the combination of cocaine and opioids increased by 114% between 2012 and 2017.

Although the CDC has determined that opioids have contributed to the increased number of stimulant overdoses, the number of stem deaths also increases independently.

After an encouraging drop in the number of deaths from cocaine overdose between 2006 and 2012, the number of cocaine-related deaths has increased again, increasing by almost 30% per year since.

Prescription drugs are also part of the problem because users have died of overdoses of the drug for ADHD sold as Ritalin.

The stimulants contribute to the overall increase in the number of drug overdose deaths, which has increased by 143% per year in 2015, 2016 and 2017, the CDC reported.