UMEM Educational Pearls

Title: Is it cocaine, fentanyl or amphetamine? Yes.

Category: Toxicology

Keywords: Toxicology, contaminate, opiate, stimulant (PubMed Search)

Posted: 4/5/2025 by Robert Flint, MD (Updated: 4/11/2025)
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This study from Australia reminds us that what patients think they ingested isn’t always what they did ingest. A high percentage of “cocaine” and other stimulants was actually fentanyl or other opiates. The authors do  a nice job referencing similar studies in the United States. Any overdose could be a mixed picture due to impure street drugs.

References

Emergency Medicine AustralasiaVolume 37, Issue 2 e70038

Original Research

Open Access

Opioid overdoses following use of cocaine and methamphetamine in New South Wales, and the public health responses

Peter Chisholm MBBS, B Med Sc, MPHJared Brown BPharm, MPHThanjira Jiranantakan MD, MPH, FAFPHM, FACOEMMary Ellen Harrod PhDCatherine McDonald BScUna Cullinan BScDarren M Roberts MBBS, PhD, FRACP, FAChAM

First published: 03 April 2025

https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.70038