59.0 Percent of Overdose Deaths Involved Stimulants in 2021 to 2024

TUESDAY, Sept. 2, 2025 (HealthDay News) — From 2021 to 2024, 59.0 percent of overdose deaths involved stimulants, according to research published in the Aug. 28 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Lauren J. Tanz, Sc.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues used CDC State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System data to describe the characteristics of stimulant-involved overdose deaths during January 2021 to June 2024.

The researchers found that during January 2021 to June 2024, 59.0 percent of overdose deaths involved stimulants: 43.1 and 15.9 percent co-involved stimulants and opioids and involved stimulants and no opioids, respectively. Compared with those who died of overdoses involving stimulants and opioids, people who died of overdoses involving stimulants and no opioids were older (aged 45 years and older: 66.5 versus 44.2 percent) and more often had a history of cardiovascular disease (38.7 versus 21.2 percent). From 2018 to 2023, there was an increase in stimulant-involved overdose death rates (cocaine: 4.5 to 8.6 per 100,000; psychostimulants with abuse potential, primarily methamphetamine: 3.9 to 10.4). For psychostimulants and cocaine, increases were largest among non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native persons (11.0 to 32.9) and among non-Hispanic Black or African American persons (9.1 to 24.3), driven by deaths co-involving stimulants and opioids.

“Nearly 60 percent of overdose deaths during January 2021 to June 2024 involved stimulants, highlighting the need for expanded access to evidence-based behavioral treatments (e.g., contingency management) for stimulant use disorder,” the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text