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The Fourth Wave: How Speedballing Is Creating a New Kind of Drug Crisis
A staggering surge in the lethal combination of stimulants and opioids has reached a crisis point, leaving public health officials scrambling for solutions.
In an unprecedented development that’s sending shockwaves throughout the healthcare system, speedballing – the dangerous practice of combining stimulants like cocaine or methamphetamine with opioids such as heroin or fentanyl – is wreaking havoc across the United States. The alarming rise in this perilous polysubstance use has led to a devastating increase in overdose deaths, leaving families torn apart and communities reeling.
According to data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), stimulant-involved overdose fatalities skyrocketed from over 12,000 annually in 2015 to more than 57,000 in 2022, a staggering 375% spike. Moreover, an astonishing 70% of these cases involved fentanyl or synthetic opioids, highlighting the alarming frequency with which users are unknowingly exposed to this potent and often deadly substance.
Speedballing’s insidious spread is part of a broader trend of polysubstance use in the U.S., with overdoses involving both stimulants and fentanyl increasing an astonishing 50-fold since 2010. This has been dubbed “The Fourth Wave” of the opioid epidemic, underscoring the urgency of addressing this menace.
As speedballing continues to ravage communities nationwide, it’s imperative that public health officials adopt a novel approach to prevention and treatment. One crucial step in this direction is increasing awareness about the perils of combining stimulants and opioids, thereby empowering individuals to make informed choices. Moreover, better access to treatment for stimulant use disorder – characterized by the continued use of amphetamine-type substances, cocaine, or other stimulants resulting in significant impairment or distress – must be a priority.
Additionally, implementing harm reduction strategies is crucial in saving lives. Providing fentanyl test strips and naloxone – a medication that reverses opioid overdoses – are essential tools in this fight against the scourge of speedballing.
The Fourth Wave has arrived, leaving no room for complacency or inaction. It’s high time for innovative solutions to tackle the nation’s drug crisis head-on, and it begins with understanding the dynamics driving this crisis and the people affected by it.
Source: gizmodo.com
