WHAT’S NEXT? BABY FORMULA? –

Nov. 27, 2021 – Behind that 100,000 figure, they said, is an ongoing surge in the number of cocaine, methamphetamine and other drug deaths that are connected to the simultaneous use of fentanyl. 

“Probably more than half of the cases involve fentanyl mixed with another drug,” said Dr. Robert Anderson, the chief of mortality statistics at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

The co-use of fentanyl and other drugs distinguishes this wave from the ones that came before it, which were characterized by the growing use of prescription pain medications and then the rise of heroin and fentanyl individually.

“I actually don’t refer to it as an opioid epidemic,” said Dr. James Berry, the director of addiction services and chair of the behavioral medicine department at West Virginia University. “I refer to it as an addiction epidemic, because the substance varies, and there’s typically more than one substance being used.”

Although the trend has been identified, it’s not yet definitive what is causing it: Are drug users knowingly using fentanyl and other drugs, or does fentanyl enter the larger drug supply via dealers and distributors?

“It really could be happening at any point and multiple points along the drug supply chain,” said Kelly Dougherty, Vermont’s deputy health commissioner for alcohol and drug abuse programs. “Some people want to use fentanyl, despite the dangers, and other people are using it without knowing — it’s scary. People are cutting it in, and it basically makes it more deadly.”

more@NBCNews