Community Coalitions Encouraged by Decrease in US Overdose Death Rate

Data published in September 2024 by the US Centers forDisease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms a trend, already reported anecdotally by emergency department staff across the country, that deaths from drug overdose are falling fast, for the first time since the US opioid epidemic began a generation ago.

More than 107,000 people died of a drug overdose in 2023, down from roughly 111,000 in 2022. Synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl, were involved in nearly 70% of the deaths – approximately 75,000 people – in 2023, which was a slight drop from 2022.

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Learn more:
Opioid crisis: Fall in US overdose deaths leaves experts scrambling for an explanation | The BMJ