Meth and other stimulant overdoses skyrocket in Texas. What’s fueling the trend?
The overdose death rate from stimulant drugs in Texas has increased by more than fourfold in the last 10 years, according to data from Texas Vital Statistics.
In 2023, 11 people died from stimulant overdoses per 100,000 Texans, up from 2.6 in 2013, according to Texas Vital Statistics. Stimulants include drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine, and prescription stimulants such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medications.
“We have been seeing a noticeable rise in stimulant-involved overdoses,” said Becky DeVine, director of special projects at Recovery Resource Council.
There are multiple reasons why the stimulant overdose death rate has increased. First, the meth being sold in the U.S. is a lot stronger than it used to be, said Katie Harris, a drug policy expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. And in recent years, fentanyl has gotten less potent.
“When you look at stimulants, the number of deaths around the country continues to rise, and that’s driven by a few different things,” said Dr. Joe Friedman, a physician and researcher who has researched polysubstance overdose death. “One of them is the expansion of methamphetamine into almost everywhere in the country.”
Stimulants are also difficult to counteract because, unlike opioids, there are no approved medications to treat stimulant use disorder, and there is no naloxone equivalent that can reverse a stimulant overdose. Opioid use disorder can be treated with buprenorphine, methadone, or naltrexone.
“In many ways it’s a more difficult drug to combat use of, even though the risks around overdose are a bit different than they are for opioids,” Harris said.
To treat stimulant misuse, the best evidence is for contingency management, Friedman said. That is when you get paid small amounts of money every time you have a clean drug screen.
People often begin using stimulants because they need to stay awake at night, Harris said, if they’re homeless or if their jobs require long hours.
Drug trends come and go like any other trend, DeVine said. And stimulants like methamphetamine are typically quite cheap, she added.
“We can’t focus on just one drug,” Harris said. “We can’t just focus on fentanyl because there’s always something else around the corner.”
