Meth-related overdose deaths hit record number in WV
Overdose deaths related to methamphetamine in West Virginia have increased by 500 percent in just four years, according to new data released by the state Health Statistics Center.
A record-number 129 people have died from meth-related overdoses this year — and that number is expected to increase significantly as the state catches up on counting fatal overdoses.
About half of the meth overdoses involve fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that remains the leading cause of drug overdoses in West Virginia. Addicts are using meth laced with fentanyl, sometimes unknowingly, said Chad Napier, prevention officer with the Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
“A lot of these people don’t know what they’re getting,” Napier said. “We’re seeing the meth cut with fentanyl, so that’s increasing the meth [overdose] numbers, I believe.”
Kanawha and Cabell counties have been hardest hit by meth-related overdoses. Thirty Kanawha residents have died from meth overdoses this year, 28 in Cabell. Raleigh and Wood counties had the next-highest number of fatal meth-related overdoses with eight each.
Statewide, meth-related overdose deaths have increased each of the past four years — from 21 in 2014, 49 in 2015, 107 in 2016 and 129 deaths so far this year.
Police agencies are seizing an increasing amount of crystal meth made in Mexico by drug cartels and distributed in Appalachia through Atlanta; Columbus, Ohio; and Detroit, Napier said.
Several years ago, meth dealers and users across the state were making the drug in small, clandestine “shake-and-bake” labs, but the number of those labs has declined significantly as crystal meth from Mexico has become the preferred choice among users.
Dr. Rahul Gupta, state health commissioner, said drug users also are mixing meth and heroin. The Mexican-made meth inundated the southwestern United States before spreading east.
“We’re seeing a lot more meth, and it’s a different kind of meth than we were seeing five or six years ago,” Gupta said. “There’s a push from the cartels to get these drugs out there.”
Doctors sometimes prescribe methamphetamine, sold under the Desoxyn brand, to treat people with attention-deficit disorder. But the state Board of Pharmacy has found no meth-related overdoses linked to prescription methamphetamine.
“The stats reflect illicit meth,” said Mike Goff, an administrator at the pharmacy board. “[Overdoses caused by] street drugs are all up.”
For instance, there’s been a resurgence of cocaine abuse in the region, Napier said, along with a corresponding increase in cocaine-related overdose deaths.
In West Virginia, cocaine deaths jumped from 57 in 2014 to 157 in 2016, and 126 cocaine-related fatal overdoses have been reported this year with many more to be counted. Cabell County leads the state with 31 cocaine-related overdose deaths this year.
Dealers also are lacing cocaine with fentanyl, Napier said, though he didn’t know the percentage of cocaine-related deaths that also involved fentanyl.
Not long ago, it was uncommon for meth addicts to abuse opioids or for heroin or pain-pill addicts to use meth. That’s changed during the past two years.
“They’re mixing stimulants with depressants,” Napier said.
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