Opioid and methamphetamine co-use: associations with economic vulnerabilities and interpersonal victimization among SUD program clients

ABSTRACT

Increases in methamphetamine use among individuals seeking treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) have implications for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. Secondary data from 28,358 adults (18+) in a multi-year evaluation of publicly funded SUD treatment was analyzed. A significant linear trend showed an increase in opioid and methamphetamine co-use over time. In the multinomial logistic regression, recent co-use of opioids and methamphetamine was significantly associated with being female, younger age, being White, living in a metropolitan community, greater economic hardship, using more substances (other than opioids and methamphetamine) relative to the other drug use patterns. Past-12-month interpersonal victimization was associated with co-use of opioids and methamphetamine relative to individuals who did not use opioids-methamphetamine and individuals who used opioids, no methamphetamine.

KEYWORDS:

• Economic hardship
• homelessness
• polydrug use
• substance use disorder
• treatment-seeking
• victimization

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Division of Behavioral Health in the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities, Division of Behavioral Health.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities.