Office of Medical Communications

Richard Rawson ’70, Ph.D.’74, professor of psychiatry and a national authority on substance use and behavioral health

(NOVEMBER 26, 2023) Richard Rawson ’70, Ph.D.’74, professor of psychiatry and a national authority on substance use and behavioral health, told VT Digger he has been trying to raise awareness of the involvement of stimulants in the overdose crisis.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have declared fentanyl the “third wave” of the opioid crisis after earlier phases driven first by prescription opioids then heroin. The drug’s now ubiquitous presence has sent the opioid crisis into uncharted territory—across the country, and in Vermont. The problem is particularly glaring in Vermont’s largest city, where, as of October 31, the fire department has responded to 422 reported overdoses so far this year.

“Vermont’s had a cocaine problem for 30 years and there’s no treatment for people with cocaine use disorder,” Rawson said; he compared the public’s lower level of concern about stimulants to that of cannabis. Previously, deaths from cocaine overdoses were rare and the public remained focused on opioid use. “Well, now that cocaine has fentanyl in it,” he said, “it is overdose relevant. It’s driving a lot of the overdoses.”