Drug overdose deaths fall for 6 months straight as officials wonder what's working

It may be the first sign that the epidemic of deadly drug overdoses in America is starting to level off after years of steady increases.

Drug overdose deaths decreased by 12.7% in the 12 months through to May, CDC showed preliminary data on Wednesday.

“This is the largest recorded reduction in overdose deaths,” White House officials stated. “And the sixth consecutive month of reported decreases in predicted 12-month total numbers of drug overdose deaths.”

It is also the first time, according to the model, the number of estimated drug overdose deaths for a 12-month period has been below 100 000 since the start of 2021; it is 98 820.

It’s categorically good news. It also causes somewhat of a head scratcher to the years dedicated public health officers who have spent considerable effort and time working on reversing the upward trends of opioid deaths that fentanyl has been leading.

But reduction in deaths were seen this year Cleveland’s where the number of overdose deaths in the first quarter of this year was at 40 percent lower compared last year claims Dr. David Margolius director of public health.

This sudden, and rather unexpected drop raises a question as to what the main cause of the downfall was. Emergency overdose mitigation measures such as increased public access to Narcan, a medicine used to counteract opioid overdose were in place before this steep drop.

‘We’ve been doing the things we’re doing for over 10 years.” I’d love to say it’s finally working,” said Dr. Joan Papp, an emergency physician at Cleveland’s MetroHealth Medical Center. “But boy, I don’t know. If only I could put in a bottle and use it next semencodingnesday says:

One potential factor at play: Unlike in the peak of Covid19, people are no longer consuming drugs in isolation. Now, they’re more likely to use around others people who may call 911 or administer Narcan to bring them back to life.

Only nine states reported an increase in the deaths due to drugs overdoses in the period ending May as per the latest CDC stats in question; 41 of the nation’s states saw less in the deaths due to drug overdoses in the 12 months.

“This is the first time since at least 2018 that national numbers for 2023 show a lower overdose death rate than in 2022,” said Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, which comprises public health officials from the largest U.S. cities, in a briefing with reporters on Thursday. “Provisional 2024 national data maintains this trend.”

New York City, the largest metropolitan area in the country, even fell slightly.

Its health officials reported 3,046 drug overdose deaths in the city in 2023. That’s down one percent from 2022 and the first time New York City’s overdose death rate has declined since 2018.

Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, who is exiting his post on Friday, characterized the city’s latest drug overdose figures as ‘cautiously and humbly exciting’.

Local communities in Seattle copied the trends and follow the same pattern. “Though we have not analysed these figures, for the first time in the several years we are noticing a decline in the overdose,” Brad Finegood an addict specialist in Seattle stated during the Thursday briefing.

Pittsburgh recorded 22 percent less in opioid overdose deaths in the first nine months of this year compared to last year. He said the number of nonfatal overdoses also declined at the same time.

“That represents an extremely significant decline,” said Ms. Finegood

He recalled that about 85 percent of people who use drugs in Seattle keep Narcan with them.

“Even though they can’t save their own self from an overdose, they are often the first in the scene and can save an overdose which can be lethal, to make somebody alive again,” he said.