Comparison of poisoning deaths with wastewater-based consumption estimates and assessment of fatal toxicity for amphetamine-type stimulant drugs.
Drug testing and analysis June 1, 2024 Pirkko Kriikku, Aino Kankaanpää, Teemu Gunnar et al. 3 citations
Amphetamine, methamphetamine, and MDMA have a similar capacity to cause death when fatal toxicity is expressed as deaths per million doses. In Finland, poisoning deaths from these stimulants correlated significantly with drug consumption measured by wastewater-based epidemiology across the years 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020. Methamphetamine showed the highest fatal toxicity (at an estimated 50 mg dose), followed by MDMA (100 mg dose) and amphetamine (50 mg dose). The fatal toxicity of these stimulants was close to that previously reported for many prescription opioids and tricyclic antidepressants. This is the first study to quantitatively compare fatal toxicity of amphetamine-type stimulants by linking deaths with consumption estimates from wastewater.