Majority of meth-related deaths linked to people ages 40 and older

The Guam Office of the Chief Medical Examiner's annual report showed that of over 700 death cases, the second most common manner of death was categorized under accident, with 89 cases. Among these, 32 were due to drug overdoses with direct links to methamphetamine. 

Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jefferey Nine set out to establish comprehensive postmortem drug testing after assuming his role back in 2022. 

Dr. Nine said, “I wanted to get a good grasp of what drugs were on the island–and not just what types, but what the prevalence was…I noticed right away when I got here that methamphetamine was showing up in our drug testing pretty routinely.”  

And with the second most common death accident being car crashes, the data tells us drugs and driving intersect. 

More specifically, 18 out of 30 motor vehicle crash deaths had drugs or alcohol in their system at the time of the deadly crash. 

“They were methamphetamine and marijuana and alcohol levels ranged up to 0.320 that’s like four times the legal limit amount,” said Nine.

He added, the prevalence of meth-related deaths was dominantly among the 40 and above age group. 

Nine expressed, “It kind of breaks my heart because this is kind of the group that we expect to be mentoring our younger people that should be productive members of society, and they’re kind of the largest group of methamphetamine-related users and methamphetamine deaths.”

Nine also said he hopes the report’s data will highlight the significant impact that drug abuse has on the island, in addition to the high incidence of driving while impaired, which he said could be avoided.

He hopes the stats could be used to inform programs. 

The full report can be found below.