“When President Biden and Vice President Harris took office, the number of drug overdose deaths was increasing 31% year-over-year. They immediately took action: making beating the overdose epidemic a key pillar of their Unity Agenda for the Nation and taking a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to strengthening public health and public safety. As an Administration, we have removed more barriers to treatment for substance use disorder than ever before and invested historic levels of funding to help crack down on illicit drug trafficking at the border. Life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications like naloxone are now available over-the-counter and at lower prices. We are at a critical inflection point. For the sixth month in a row, we are continuing to see a steady decline in drug overdose deaths nationwide. This new data shows there is hope, there is progress, and there is an urgent call to action for us all to continue working together across all of society to reduce drug overdose deaths and save even more lives.”