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An analysis of illegal drug seizures by law enforcement in five key regions of the United States revealed an increase in methamphetamine and marijuana (cannabis) confiscations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seizures of both drugs were higher at their peak in August 2020 than at any time in the year before the pandemic. While investigators found that trends in heroin, cocaine and fentanyl seizures were unaffected by the pandemic, preliminary data on overdose deaths show that the observed increase in drug-related mortality in 2019 increased further in the first half of 2020.
The results suggest that the pandemic and its related restrictions may have impacted the availability and demand for some, but not all, illicit drugs, and that availability may have increased in the summer and fall of 2020 within five years. regions included in this study.
The study, published today in Drug and alcohol addiction, was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which is part of the National Institutes of Health.
“At the start of the pandemic, it was not clear how social distancing, travel restrictions and economic hardship in communities would impact the supply and demand for medicines,” said Nora D. Volkow, MD, director of NIDA. “Data on drug seizures like these give us additional insight into the changing drug use landscape during COVID-19 and may inform our understanding of the increasing rates of methamphetamine-related overdose deaths and opioids during the pandemic. “
Measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic have limited social gatherings, closed international borders and reduced economic activity in many sectors. While preliminary data reveals that drug overdose deaths have increased during the pandemic, there is little scientific evidence to inform the impact of these measures on drug availability and use in the United States.
In search of answers, investigators led by Joseph J. Palamar, Ph.D., MPH, associate professor at the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University and co-investigator on the National Early Warning System on drugs (NDEWS), extracted data on drug seizures by law enforcement. The data was collected under the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Zones program, a grant program aimed at reducing drug trafficking and abuse administered by the Office of National Drug Control Policy in which the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention play an active role. .
Data on drug seizures from March 2019 to September 2020 were analyzed in five key regions of the United States: Washington, DC / Baltimore, Chicago, Ohio, New Mexico and North Florida. Investigators analyzed 29,574 seizures of five drugs: marijuana, methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin and cocaine.
The incidence of marijuana and methamphetamine seizures fell early in the pandemic, with low points in April 2020. But confiscations of both substances subsequently increased, exceeding pre-COVID-19 seizure rates and reaching their peaks in August 2020. The quantities of seized marijuana, measured by weight, also climbed significantly from April to September 2020.
While the decrease in seizures may indicate a decrease in drug availability in communities, it is also possible that this decrease indicates reduced law enforcement in the first months of the pandemic. The study authors noted that it is still unclear whether high post-COVID-19 seizures represent greater drug availability, or whether law enforcement officials were just ‘catching up’ ‘the previous months of delayed seizures.
Investigators have found no significant changes in the pattern of seizures of fentanyl, cocaine or heroin since the onset of COVID-19, although they point out that seizures of fentanyl continued to increase steadily from March 2019. until September 2020, regardless of the pandemic.
“Our understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic affects drug use is evolving, but we know that social isolation, even for short periods of time, can cause psychological distress that can lead some people to seek out psychoactive substances.” said Dr Palamar. “It is essential for us to get a clearer picture of how the pandemic has influenced the supply and demand of drugs, so that we can better mitigate the potential harmful effects of changing patterns of drug use. . ”
The researchers stress that drug seizure rates are only rough measures of drug availability and use and that more research is needed to understand how individuals’ drug use may change during the pandemic. These are crucial public health issues, as changes in an individual’s drug use – such as suddenly stopping a certain substance or switching to another – can increase the risk of drug-related harm, such as withdrawal or overdose. In addition, more research is needed to assess whether the trends seen in these key regions of the United States extend to other parts of the country.
Overdose deaths involving methamphetamine began to rise sharply in 2009, and provisional CDC figures show overdose deaths involving stimulants, including methamphetamine, increased by 39% in the year ending in June 2020 compared to the year ending June 2019. Previous research has found that methamphetamine use has increased significantly in people with an opioid use disorder and has had an impact disproportionate on some racial and ethnic communities, especially Native Americans and Alaska Natives.
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This work was supported by the NIDA National Drug Early Warning System (U01DA051126 and R01DA044207).
Reference
J Palamar et al. Changes in drug seizures in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drug and alcohol addiction DOI: 10.1016 / j.drugalcdep.2021.108580 (2021).
About the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): NIDA is a component of the National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction. The Institute conducts a wide variety of programs to inform policy, improve practice, and advance the science of addiction. For more information about NIDA and its programs, visit http: // www.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, comprises 27 institutes and centers and is a component of the US Department of Health and Human Services. The NIH is the principal federal agency that conducts and supports basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and studies the causes, treatments, and cures for common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http: // www.
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