Written by Anita Snow and Mary Katherine Wildman
Associated Press
PHOENIX — On a sweltering day in June, the hottest day on record, a 38-year-old Phoenix man collapsed under a freeway bridge and a 41-year-old woman was found dead outside a store. Both men had been using methamphetamine, but the rising temperatures and the increased dangers of meth led to their deaths.
Methamphetamine drugs are appearing more frequently as a contributing factor in people’s deaths from heatstroke in the United States, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately one in five heatstroke deaths in recent years were related to methamphetamines, according to death certificates. In Arizona, Texas, Nevada and California, authorities found the drug in nearly a third of heatstroke deaths in 2023.
Stimulants are more common in heat-related deaths than the deadly opioid fentanyl. As a stimulant, it increases body temperature, impairing the brain’s ability to regulate temperature and making it difficult for the heart to compensate for extreme heat.
If your body temperature is already elevated in hot weather, consuming alcohol or opioids can worsen the effects on your body, “but the biggest concern would be stimulants,” says the National Health Center. Bob Anderson, head of statistical analysis at statistics.
The trend emerged after synthetic drugs manufactured south of the border by Mexican drug cartels were largely replaced by fictional domestic versions of meth on the television series “Breaking Bad.” It is usually smoked in glass pipes and costs only a few dollars per serving.
At the same time, human-induced climate change is making it much easier to die from heat-related causes in places like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and the deserts of southeastern California. This year has been the hottest summer on record on Earth.
Phoenix experienced 113 consecutive days of triple-digit heat, reaching 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47.2 degrees Celsius) in late September. This is not even typical of a city synonymous with heat. Triple digits continued into October, and this week the National Weather Service once again warned of excessive heat.
“Wearing a jacket in a cold room increases your body temperature. If it’s hot outside, you can take the jacket off,” says Ray Matsumoto, dean of the Daniel K. Inouye School of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. . But people who use meth outdoors in the heat “can’t take off their meth jackets.”
These deaths are particularly common in the Southwest, where meth overdoses have been on the rise overall since the mid-2000s.
In Maricopa County, the hottest metropolitan area in the United States, of the 645 heat-related deaths recorded last year, 419, or about two-thirds, were caused by street drugs, alcohol, mental illness or blood pressure management. Drugs were involved, including certain prescription drugs. According to public health data, stimulants were detected in about three-quarters of these drug incidents and were often the primary cause of death. Fentanyl was detected in just under half of those cases.
In Pima County, home to Tucson, Arizona’s second-most populous city, methamphetamine was a contributing factor in a quarter of the 84 heatstroke deaths reported so far this year, the coroner’s office said. did.
In the Las Vegas metropolitan area, heat was the cause of 294 deaths investigated by the Clark County Coroner’s Office last year, and 39% involved illegal drugs, prescription drugs or alcohol. Stimulants were detected in three-quarters of these cases.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration noted in its 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment that 31% of all drug-related deaths in the United States are currently caused by stimulants, which speed up the nervous system, primarily meth. are. More than 17,000 people died of methamphetamine-related fatal overdoses and poisonings in the United States in the first half of 2023, according to preliminary data from the CDC.
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While overdoses are more commonly associated with opiate drugs such as fentanyl, medical experts say stimulant overdose is possible in large doses. Increased blood pressure and heart rate can cause heart attack and stroke.
“Methamphetamine use disrupts all normal physiological ways of dealing with heat,” said Dr. Aneesh Narang, an emergency medicine physician at Banner University Medical Center in downtown Phoenix.
Mr Narang, a member of the committee that reviews overdose deaths, said the “vast majority” of heat stroke patients presenting to hospital emergency departments this summer were using street drugs, most commonly methamphetamines. said.
Because of its proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border, Phoenix is considered a “source city” where large quantities of newly smuggled meth are stored and packaged into relatively small quantities for distribution, the attorney’s office said. . Matt Shea is a veteran narcotics detective with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
“It’s an amazing amount that comes in constantly every day,” Hsieh said. “It’s also very cheap.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized about 164,000 pounds of meth at the U.S.-Mexico border in the last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, compared with the previous 12 months. This is more than the 140,000 pounds (approximately 63,500 kilograms) seized in 2017.
And sellers often target the homeless, Hsieh said.
“The customer base is easy to find and easy to exploit,” Hsieh said. “If you’re an enterprising young drug dealer, all you need is some form of transportation and you just drive around and they flock to your car.”
Jason Elliott, a 51-year-old unemployed mechanic, said he had heard of several meth-related heatstroke deaths during his three years on the streets of Phoenix.
“This is very typical,” Elliott said, noting that meth keeps people awake and alert and can prevent robberies in shelters and outdoors. “What else can you do? You have things. You go to sleep, and when you wake up, your things are gone.”
Dr. Nick Staab, assistant medical director for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, said pamphlets were printed and distributed at cooling centers this summer to spread the word about the dangers of using stimulants and certain prescription drugs during the heatwave. spoke.
However, it is unclear how many have arrived. Drug users may not be welcome in some cooling centers. A better solution, says Stacey Cope, director of capacity building and education at the harm reduction nonprofit Sonora Prevention Works, would be to ensure that those most at risk are “expected not to use drugs.” The idea is to lower the barrier to entry so that in some cases, it may not be the case. Plan on leaving during the hottest part of the day. ”
