Oklahoma Ranks Near The Top In Overdose Deaths From Stimulants, CDC Data Show

• Jackie Fortiér
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  Jackie is StateImpact Oklahoma's health care reporter. In a partnership with Kaiser Health News and National Public Radio, Jackie covers health in Oklahoma and the health care industry for local and national audiences. She has many journalism awards to her name during her years of multi-media reporting in Colorado and was part of a team recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists with a Sigma Delta Chi award for excellence in breaking news reporting in 2013. She is a former young professional fellow of the Journalism and Women's Symposium, and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, Reporters without Borders, and a lifetime member of Kappa Tau Alpha, awarded for her thesis on disability and technology in news reporting. She holds a bachelor's degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing from Colorado State University and a Master of Arts degree in journalism from the University of Colorado, Boulder. When she's not reporting, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three cats.

Alex Dodd / Flickr – Creative Commons

Psychostimulants include methamphetamine, ecstasy and drugs like Ritalin used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Creative Commons

Oklahoma had the second highest rate of certain drug overdose deaths between 2015 and 2016, a new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.

Overdose deaths from a class of drugs known as psychostimulants increased in 14 states. Oklahoma and New Mexico shared the second highest rate behind Nevada. These drugs include methamphetamine, ecstasy and drugs like Ritalin used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Oklahoma’s heroin, illicit opioid and cocaine death rates also ticked up slightly.

The CDC’s analysis, based on data from 31 states and Washington D.C., show that overdose deaths increased by 21.5 percent in 2016, a much sharper spike than the 11.4 percent increase seen the previous year. The report confirms that fentanyl is fueling the rise.

The first nationwide wave of opioid overdose deaths began in the 1990s and included prescription opioid deaths. A second wave, which began in 2010, was characterized by heroin deaths. A third wave started in 2013, with deaths involving highly potent synthetic opioids, particularly illicitly manufactured fentanyl. The CDC reports that fentanyl is now being mixed into “counterfeit opioid and benzodiazepine pills, heroin, and cocaine, likely contributing to increases in overdose death rates involving other substances.”

Drug overdoses killed 63,632 Americans in 2016; nearly two-thirds of the deaths involved an opioid.