Overdose deaths involving stimulants, such as cocaine and methamphetamine, have increased in the U.S. since 2011 and have disproportionately affected American Indian, Alaska Native, and Black individuals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additionally, the majority of stimulant-involved deaths also involve opioids.
STUDY OBJECTIVE
To address rising stimulant overdose deaths and help reduce disparities in mortality, researchers at BMC developed a stimulant-inclusive overdose prevention toolkit and integrated it into existing post-overdose outreach programs across Massachusetts.
DETAILS
The stimulant-inclusive toolkit implemented across these programs included stimulant-specific training for post-overdose outreach teams, stimulant-specific overdose prevention training for communities, and culturally responsive engagement strategies that support stimulant risk reduction and linkage to treatment.
To assess engagement with the program, the researchers conducted an interrupted time-series analysis using individual-level survivor outreach and contact data from March 2022–September 2024 across 11 post-overdose outreach programs in Massachusetts.
FINDINGS
The team found that the new toolkit improved engagement among post-overdose survivors who used stimulants by nearly 15%. This suggests that leveraging existing post-overdose outreach programs to be more stimulant-inclusive may help address rising stimulant-involved overdoses.
IMPACT
“Given the rising number of overdoses involving stimulants, it’s critical that we expand our approach to better meet people where they are,” said Sarah Bagley, MD, MSc, addiction specialist at BMC and senior author on the paper. “Our research suggests that when we adapt existing outreach programs to include stimulant harm reduction, we can reach more people and hopefully, keep them connected to care. This is a practical, scalable way to respond to a changing overdose crisis and potentially save lives”
Source: Xuan, Z.; Walley, A.Y.; Formica, S.W.; Wang, J.; Gamble, M.C.; Kosakowski, S.; Murray, S.; Wiggins, M.; Cogan, A.; Haley, D.F.; Hyde, J.; and Bagley, S.M. (2026) “Impact of a stimulant-inclusive post-overdose outreach toolkit on engagement of overdose survivors who use stimulants: An interrupted time series analysis.” Drug and Alcohol Dependence.