In the U.S. the crisis is still far from being over. A new study confirms this, concluding that illegal use is more widespread than previous studies suggested. The research, published today in JAMA Health Forum, reveals that 7.5% of U.S. adults had used illicitly produced fentanyl between June 2023 to June 2024. This is a rate that’s more than 20x higher than previous reported rates. The study’s authors say that the findings suggest new ways to measure the extent of the opioid crisis. Read more: The Opioid Crisis is Not Over
Fentanyl Use and Other Opioids.
Although illicit fentanyl has been linked to more fatal overdoses, its prevalence is not well-studied. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, is the most comprehensive study to date to track illicitly produced fentanyl from year to years in the U.S., but it only began tracking the substance from 2022. The study found in that same year that 0.3% of U.S. adult citizens, including those aged 18 or older, had consumed illicitly produced fentanyl.
Some studies over the years have indicated that other illicit opioids such as heroin may be more common than what the NSDUH survey reports, which has led to doubts about their accuracy. The authors of the study set out to better measure illicit fentanyl use and illicit opioids in order to determine the real extent of this issue. Around 7.5 per cent of the 1,500 U.S. adult respondents reported illicit fentanyl usage between June 2023 to June 2024. Meanwhile, 11 per cent reported illicit opioids use. Illicitly produced fentanyl rates were 20 times greater than the NSDUH 2022 rates. This difference is in line with previous studies, assuming an increase of opioid usage from year to year.
These findings indicate that the NSDUH may have underestimated illicit fentanyl usage, and stress the importance of avoiding such overestimations going forward. According to a RAND press release, estimates of illicit opioid usage are scarce and are usually available years after information has been collected. This limits our ability to track trends in the near term. Our study provides a low-cost method for monitoring illicit opioid use.
Unintentional and Intentional Use
The new study, conducted online, included a large sample of U.S. adult participants. Participants were asked about illicit fentanyl use, both intentional and accidental. Around 4.9 per cent of participants said they used illicit fentanyl on purpose, and around 2.6 per cent reported using it accidentally. Around 25 percent of participants reported using illicit opioids for the first time. However, 39 percent, 36 percent, and around 35 percent, respectively, reported they used prescription or nonprescription opioids. The study authors say that additional research will be needed to understand why their findings differ from the NSDUH. However, it’s possible the difference is due to how the studies were conducted, as one was entirely online and the other partially. It is possible that since a part of the NSDUH results were collected by hand, some respondents did not accurately report their illicitly produced fentanyl use. The study’s authors do stress, however, that data from online surveys may contain their own problems. According to a recent press release, Mireille Jacobson is an economist and another author of the study. She said that the data should be used as substantive information for understanding the opioid epidemic and curbing it. The article should only be read for educational purposes and not as medical advice. Read more: Can a Fentanyl Vaccine Save People from Overdoses?
Sources for Articles Our Discovermagazine.com writers use high-quality peer-reviewed sources and studies for their articles. They are also reviewed by our editors for accuracy, scientific standards and editorial standards. The sources for this article are listed below:
- JAMA Health Forum. Substance Abuse Mental Health Services administration
- Estimates on Illicit Opioid use in the US The 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Key Indicators of Substance Use and mental health in the United States
- A general population survey cannot measure heroin use accurately
Sam Walters, a Discover journalist, covers archaeology and paleontology as well as ecology, evolution, and other topics. Sam Walters studied journalism at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, before joining Discover as assistant editor in the year 2022.
