- CDC data shows a decrease in U.S. fatal overdoses last year, marking the second annual decline since the drug death epidemic began.
- Experts cautiously interpret the decline, noting that it’s part of a leveling off and potential future increases.
- Reasons behind the decline remain unclear, ranging from shifts in drug supply to expanded prevention efforts.
The number of U.S. fatal overdoses fell last year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data posted Wednesday.
Agency officials noted the data is provisional and could change after more analysis, but that they still expect a drop when the final counts are in. It would be only the second annual decline since the current national drug death epidemic began more than three decades ago.
Experts reacted cautiously. One described the decline as relatively small, and said it should be thought more as part of a leveling off than a decrease. Another noted that the last time a decline occurred — in 2018 — drug deaths shot up in the years that followed.
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“Any decline is encouraging,” said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University researcher who studies overdose trends. “But I think it’s certainly premature to celebrate or to draw any large-scale conclusions about where we may be headed long-term with this crisis.”
A container of Narcan, a brand name version of the opioid overdose-reversal drug naloxone, is seen on Sept. 8, 2023, in Washington. The number of U.S. fatal overdoses fell in 2023 for only the second time since the current national epidemic of drug deaths began more than three decades ago. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted the numbers on May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
It’s also too soon to know what spurred the decline, Marshall and other experts said. Explanations could include shifts in the drug supply, expansion of overdose prevention and addiction treatment, and the grim possibility that the epidemic has killed so many that now there are basically fewer people to kill.
CDC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Deb Houry called the dip “heartening news” and praised efforts to reduce the tally, but she noted “there are still families and friends losing their loved ones to drug overdoses at staggering numbers.”
About 107,500 people died of overdoses in the U.S. last year, including both American citizens and non-citizens who were in the country at the time they died, the CDC estimated. That’s down 3% from 2022, when there were an estimated 111,000 such deaths, the agency said.
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The drug overdose epidemic, which has killed more than 1 million people since 1999, has had many ripple effects. For example, a study published last week in JAMA Psychiatry estimated that more than 321,000 U.S.