Drug Deaths Plummet After Years of Increases. Credit | Getty Images
United States – Preliminary numbers indicate that perhaps the deaths may be cresting in the United States after years of appalling increases in drug overdose, as reported by NBC News.
Preliminary figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published on Wednesday show drug overdose mortality declined 12.7% in the year to May.
Decline in Overdose Deaths
“This is the largest recorded reduction in overdose deaths,” White House officials said in a statement. “And the sixth consecutive month of reported decreases in predicted 12-month total numbers of drug overdose deaths.”
It’s also the first time since early 2021 that the figure dropped below 100,000, reaching 98,820 for the drug overdose estimates for the year 12-month period.
It’s categorically good news. It is also somewhat unexpected to the public health pundit, who has been battling for years to reverse the trend of opioid fatalities, the number of which is still climbing predominantly due to fentanyl.
Experts Surprised by Unexpected Drop
In Cleveland, for instance, the number of deaths due to overdoses in the first three months of this year was only 40 percent of that recorded in the same period last year, according to Dr. David Margolius, the city’s public health director.
One might only wonder what made the shop’s sales drop tremendously in an unanticipated manner. Measures to prevent overdoses, such as the expansion of the availability of Narcan, a rescue medicine that helps reverse an opioid overdose, were on the increase before the abrupt decline.
Possible Reasons for Decline
Most of the things we are doing we have been doing them over 10 years now. 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. I wish I knew so I could store it.”
One potential factor at play: People are not taking drugs individually, as was the case when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak. Now, they’re more likely to use it around other people who could call 911 or give a dose of Narcan.
A continuing trend?
The CDC noted that 41 states registered fewer deaths from drug overdose in the 12 months to May this year compared to a year earlier.
“For the first time since at least 2018, national data for 2023 showed a decline in overdose deaths compared to the previous year,” Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, a group that represents health officials from the nation’s largest cities, said during a media briefing Thursday. “Provisional 2024 national data continues this trend.”
The study also revealed a reduction even in New York City – the US’ largest metropolitan area.
He added that during his outgoing briefing as the commissioner of New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene that he was “cautiously and humbly excited” about the latest trends in drug overdose in the city.
Local officials in Seattle, in their work, also copied what was happening at the national level.
Local Success Stories from Seattle and Beyond
“Year-over-year, we are actually beginning to observe a trend toward fewer overdose deaths for the first time in a few years,” Seattle’s Brad Finegood, who directs overdose and addiction programming, said in the briefing Thursday.
The city reported an average of 22% decline of overdoses’ deaths during the first nine months of this year than in the previous year. The number of nonfatal overdoses declined, too, he said, as reported by NBC News.
“That represents an extremely significant decline,” Finegood said.
He said that in Seattle, about 85% of people who use drugs carry Narcan.
“While we know that they can’t reverse their overdose, they’re often the first one on the scene and able to reverse an overdose that could be fatal, to bring somebody back to life,” he said.
