07/10/2024

Stimulant Users Trapped in Fatal 'Fourth Wave' of Opioid Epidemic

African Americans are disproportionately affected by this crisis

In Pawtucket, R.I., near a storefront advertising “free” cell phones, J.R. sat in an empty back stairwell and showed a reporter how he tries to avoid overdosing when he smokes crack cocaine.

(NPR is identifying him by his initials because he fears being arrested for using illegal drugs.)

It had been several hours since his last hit, and the chatty, middle-aged man’s hands moved quickly. In one hand, he held a glass pipe. In the other, a lentil-sized crumb of cocaine.

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