Cocaine, meth on rise in Pa.'s early-warning areas

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Methamphetamine and cocaine use are on the rise in Pennsylvania while prescription drug and heroin deaths are leveling off in some areas, data that appears to reflect nationwide trends.

Jennifer Smith, secretary for Pennsylvania's Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, told a state Senate committee today the state is seeing "quite an uptick" in cocaine and methamphetamine use in three early warning areas.

The Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Johnstown areas are usually the first to show new trends across Pennsylvania, Smith said.

"We kind of knew it was coming. We just didn't know how quickly that trend was going to start shifting across the state," Smith said.

A similar shift has emerged in some Midwestern states, and federal officials have expressed worry about a trend nationwide.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency reported in October a concern that methamphetamine and cocaine use are being seen at much higher levels in areas that haven't historically been hot spots for those drugs.

"Cocaine and methamphetamine are definitely on the rise," U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman Rusty Payne said.

New surges in the use of methamphetamine and cocaine mixed with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, have contributed to rising drug overdose deaths reported in hard-hit Ohio. Kentucky reported last year that methamphetamine made a comeback, with a 57 percent increase in overdose deaths from 2016 to 2017.

Similar reports are emerging from Philadelphia.