Deaths from opioid-cocaine cocktails have surged since 2010

Drug cocktails of cocaine and opioids have caused a surge in deaths since 2010, the Washington Examiner found in an analysis of mortality data.

More than 10,100 people died from mixing the drugs in 2017, according to the analysis based on data from death certificates assembled into an online database by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The combination of cocaine and the powerful opioid fentanyl proved particularly deadly, killing 7,241 people.

The latest figures show an increase in the number deaths caused by opioids and cocaine of nearly 76 percent since 2012.

Furthermore, deaths from cocaine and crack alone, not mixed with opioids, neared the same levels in 2017 that they were about a decade prior, following what had been a leveling-off period. In 2017, 3,811 people died from cocaine or crack.

Federal health officials have been closely watching drug death data, noting that while the opioid crisis involving prescription painkillers, heroin, and fentanyl has generated a lot of attention, many people are succumbing to other drugs or to mixtures of drugs.

“It reminds us we need to pay attention to these trends every year because they can change rather rapidly,” Dr. Wilson Compton, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said when shown a copy of the data.

The figures were obtained through the CDC’s Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research, or WONDER database. The database collects information about causes of death, such as the types of drugs found during an autopsy. In a smaller proportion of cases, alcohol and benzodiazepines, such as Valium, also contributed to cocaine deaths.

Nearly 2 million people have reported they used cocaine within the past month, and the Drug Enforcement Administration estimates 432,000 use crack on a monthly basis. The latest trends observed on cocaine deaths coincide with reports from other parts of the federal government. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that cocaine use has been on the upswing overall since 2013, and the DEA announced that “the cocaine threat has rebounded” in its most recent National Drug Threat Assessment Report.

The DEA noted in its report, as well, that Colombia’s coca cultivation increased 11 percent in 2017, and that the increase of the potent drug fentanyl was “exacerbating the re-merging cocaine threat.” Officials predicted the issue would continue to worsen.

“The continuing surge in cultivation and production will likely translate into further increased domestic availability, reduced domestic prices, and – coupled with the continuing opioid epidemic – more cocaine-related overdose deaths in 2018,” the DEA said in its report.

Cocaine can be fatal on its own by causing a heart attack or stroke, but hasn’t proved as deadly as many opioids. The practice of mixing opioids with cocaine, known as “speedballing” when done intentionally, can fuel a deadly combination. People snort or inject the drugs together to feel the relaxing effects of opioids following an intense cocaine high.

But local reports have shown that some people who take drugs aren’t aware that they have been tainted with another product. With opioids, people are particularly susceptible to overdose when they aren’t use to taking them and haven’t built up a tolerance to the drug. The drug is fatal in high doses by causing a person’s breathing to slow or stop.

“The illegal drug market is very unpredictable and risky, both because of the known risks and because people may not know what is in the substances they’re using,” Compton said. “That’s true for almost every substance on the black market.”

Drug deaths are likely higher than the data currently reflect. Some medical examiners use the term “drug overdose” rather than specifying the substance, and some states have incomplete information.

Still, the latest information reveals another dimension to what is already known about drug overdoses, which killed a record 70,237 people in 2017 and are contributing to lower U.S. life expectancy. The vast majority of drug deaths – 47,600 – were caused by opioids, particularly fentanyl.

It’s not clear from the latest data whether most of the deaths are occurring among people who use cocaine regularly or among people who use opioids regularly.

“With all of our attention on opioids we have to remember there are other substances that cause a great deal of harm,” Compton said.