Smoking instead of injecting drugs can reduce harm, but a new study shows opioid smokers are four times as likely to suffer severe burns.
As U.S. drug use behavior has shifted away from injecting and toward smoking, public health experts have been almost uniform in their reaction. The development, they’ve said, is almost entirely positive: Smoking drugs like fentanyl, instead of injecting, can help reduce infections, disease transmission, and potentially even overdose rates.
A new
paper
published this week, however, adds a significant wrinkle to the cost-benefit analysis. People who switch to smoking drugs, the new research shows, may be at risk for severe burns.
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— Source: STAT News (https://www.statnews.com/2026/03/18/opioid-smoking-vs-injection-severe-burns-complicate-harm-reduction/)
