Cuyahoga County’s leading overdose killer is now cocaine. How do we treat it?
Cleveland.com••health
Key Points:
- For the first time in decades, cocaine has surpassed opioids, including fentanyl, as the leading cause of overdose deaths in Cuyahoga County, primarily affecting older Black residents.
- Unlike opioids, cocaine overdoses cannot be reversed with medications like naloxone, and there are no FDA-approved drugs to ease cocaine withdrawal, making treatment reliant on behavioral therapies.
- Experts emphasize the need for new prevention and treatment strategies tailored to stimulant use disorders, including trauma-informed care and harm reduction tools such as safer-smoking kits and fentanyl test strips.
- Current treatment systems are better equipped for opioid addiction, leaving stimulant users with limited access to detox and medication-assisted therapies, highlighting the urgency for expanded behavioral health services.
- Officials
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