In some embodiments, a method for mitigating interference in a channel having multiple users includes: transmitting, by a transmitter, a signal of interest (SOI) to a sequential interference cancellation (SIC) receiver at a transmit power; determining a packet drop rate as seen by the receiver; and decreasing the transmit power in response to determining the packet drop rate exceeds a predetermined maximum packet drop rate. The transmitter's coding rate and/or modulation level may also be lowered based on the decrease in transmit power.