Stephen Yang
America may finally be winning the war on deadly drug overdoses.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show overdose deaths dropped to just under 95,000 in May after peaking in August 2023 at 111,450.
The downtrend includes a drop of 17% in New York and 18% in New Jersey, though it’s not clear what’s driving the decline.
Drug overdose deaths nationwide fell 12.7% in the 12 months ending in May, according to preliminary data released by the CDC.
“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.”
More good news: the number of predicted monthly drug overdose deaths fell below 100,000, to 98,820 in May, for the first time since May 2021, the report said.
However, public health experts — who have been battling to halt the surge of opioid deaths lately fueled mostly by fentanyl — are at a loss to explain why the tide may have turned.
Overdose reduction strategies like the increased availability of Narcan, a rescue medication that can reverse opioid overdoses, were in use long before the decline started.
Cities like Cleveland reported that monthly overdose deaths in the first three months of this year plummeted by 40% compared to last year, according to the city’s public health director, Dr. David Margolius, told NBC News.
They too, are searching for answers — and hoping the trend continues.
“We’ve been doing the things we’re doing for over 10 years. I’d love to say it’s finally working,” Dr. Joan Papp, an emergency physician at Cleveland’s MetroHealth Medical Center, told NBC. “But boy, I don’t know. I wish I knew so I could bottle it.”
The X factor? While drug users suffered in isolation during the height of the pandemic, now they’re more likely to use around others who can make that life-saving call to 911 or administer a dose of Narcan, the report said.
Meanwhile, 41 states saw decreases in drug overdose deaths in the 12 months ending May, according to the latest CDC data, NBC News said.
The nation’s largest metropolitan area — the Big Apple — made inroads.
In 2023, 3,016 people in the city died of a drug overdose, according to its health officials. That’s a 7.6% decrease from 2022 and Gotham’s first drop in overdose deaths since 2018, the data show.
Statewide, overdose deaths dropped 16.6% to 3051 in the 12 months ended in May, CDC data show. In New Jersey, deaths plunged to 2453, an 18.3% decline.