Citation

Rosenblum D, Unick J, Ciccarone D. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2020; 208: e107779.

Affiliation

Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, Parnassus Heights, Box 0900 MU-3E, 500 Parnassus Ave, MU3E, San Francisco, CA 94143-0900.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107779

PMID

31931266

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The US has seen a rapid increase in synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths. We investigate Ohio, a state with one of the highest overdose death rates in 2017 and substantial numbers of deaths related to fentanyl, carfentanil, and other fentanyl analogs, to provide detailed evidence about the relationship between changes in the illicit drug market and overdose deaths.

METHODS: We investigate the illicit drug market using Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Investigation's (BCI) crime lab data from 2009 to 2018 that shows the content of drugs seized by law enforcement. We use Poisson regression analysis to estimate the relationship between monthly crime lab data and monthly unintentional drug overdose death data at the county level.

RESULTS: During this time period there has been a rapid change in the composition of drugs analyzed by the BCI labs, with a rapid fall in heroin observations, simultaneous rise in synthetic opioids, and an increase in the number of different fentanyl analogs. We find that the increased presence of fentanyl, carfentanil, and other fentanyl analogs have a strong correlation with an increase in overdose deaths. The types of opioids most associated with deaths varies by the population size of the county.

CONCLUSIONS: Crime lab data has the potential to be used as an early warning system to alert persons who inject drugs, harm reduction services, first responders, and law enforcement about changes in the illicit opioid risk environment.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Carfentanil; Fentanyl; Fentanyl Analogs; Ohio; Overdose Deaths