Overdose Deaths Fall for the First Time Since 2018
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Drug overdose deaths have declined by 10% nationwide, according to the CDC.
For Context: A sharp rise in overdose deaths began in 2019 and hadn't slowed down, often with fatal overdoses increasing by double-digit percentages year-by-year. Around 100,000 deaths are still occurring per year.
New Data: Several states experienced steep decreases. Ohio deaths are down 30%. Alaska, Washington, and Oregon have decreased by at least 27% since 2022, and Kansas, Nebraska, Indiana, and Maine have decreased by 15% or more.
Why is This Happening?: Experts name different possible contributors. “Expansion of naloxone and medications for opioid use disorder — these strategies worked,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. However, the reason for the unprecedented speed at which deaths are dropping is unclear.
How the Media Covered It: The story was not covered widely across the spectrum.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Right
Overdose deaths drop significantly in US
Drug overdose deaths in the United States have dropped a substantial amount, according to new data.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that drug overdose deaths dropped 10% from April 2023 to April of this year, the first such decline in a decade. Previous years have seen either small drops or, more commonly, double-digit percentage increases. The total number of deaths last year was 112,470. That number has since dropped to 101,168.
From the Left
NPR Exclusive: U.S. overdose deaths plummet, saving thousands of lives
For the first time in decades, public health data shows a sudden and hopeful drop in drug overdose deaths across the U.S. "This is exciting," said Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute On Drug Abuse [NIDA], the federal laboratory charged with studying addiction. "This looks real. This looks very, very real." National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6 percent. That's a huge reversal from recent years when fatal overdoses regularly increased by double-digit...
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