The Los Angeles Post

OVERDOSE DEATHS SKYROCKET

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Methamphetamine-related overdose death rates in adults between ages 18 and 64 nearly tripled from 2015 to 2019.

A study published Wednesday in the journal “Jama Psychiatry” showed that mixing drugs and more frequent methamphetamine use were among the possible reasons for the rising death rates.

The research was conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and found that the number of people using methamphetamine increased by only 43 percent in four years, according to an NIH press release.

However, overdose deaths from psychostimulant drugs other than cocaine, most of which the researchers attributed to methamphetamine use, increased by 180 percent over the same time period.

Historically, the drug is used by middle-aged white people, but recently groups of American Indians/Alaska Natives were using it most prevalently, the release reported.