Unintentional Drug Overdose Deaths with Kratom Detected — 27 States, July 2016–December 2017

Source: Olsen EO, O’Donnell J, Mattson CL, Schier JG, Wilson N. Notes from the Field: Unintentional Drug Overdose Deaths with Kratom Detected — 27 States, July 2016–December 2017. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2019;68:326–327. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6814a2External.

The CDC just released a new analysis of unintentional drug overdose deaths with kratom detected in an MMWR Notes from the Field. The CDC analyzed data from the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS). 32 states and DC receive funding to contribute data to SUDORS. Less than 1% (152) of the 27,338 overdose deaths occuring July 2016-Dec 2017 were kratom positive. These deaths occurred in 11 eleven states from July 2016-June 2017 and in 27 states from July 2017-Dec 2017. “Kratom was determined to be a cause of death (i.e., kratom-involved) by a medical examiner or coroner for 91 (59.9%) of the 152 kratom-positive decedents, including seven for whom kratom was the only substance to test positive on postmortem toxicology, although the presence of additional substances cannot be ruled out.”