The stats: Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates there were 94,112 overdose deaths in the year ending July 2024, a 16.9% decrease from the prior year.
- All states except Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Montana and Alaska saw decreases.
What’s being said:
- Senior Biden administration officials credited a combination of policies such as higher investment in preventing drug use among young people, making naloxone more accessible, getting more people into treatment early and disrupting the supply of illicit drugs and precursor chemicals.
The details: It is possible the government’s efforts to disrupt drug trafficking and provide improved prevention, harm reduction and treatment services are beginning to achieve their desired effect.
- The White House’s efforts to distribute naloxone have helped reverse 500,000 overdoses.
- The administration has been historically supportive of harm reduction, providing support for syringe exchange and drug checking equipment and looking the other way on supervised consumption sites.
- It has overhauled methadone regulations, eliminated the buprenorphine waiver requirement and expanded access to treatment via telehealth.
But:
- Other potential reasons for the decline include a change in the drug supply and a shift toward more cautious drug use behavior based on years of experience with fentanyl.
- Progress could be threatened by the reemergence of carfentanil, which is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl. A CDC study found that overdose deaths with carfentanil remain rare but increased approximately 7-fold from January-June 2023 to January-June 2024.
The larger context: The decrease is the largest in history, but the death toll remains high and disparities persist.
- The ~94,000 deaths is nearly 40% more than when deaths began rising in Jan. 2019 and about the same as it was in Jan. 2021, when Biden took office.
Source: White House takes credit for a big drop in fatal overdoses (Politico); Biden officials take credit for ‘largest drop’ in overdose deaths. Experts are more cautious (STAT); Future Threats (Politico)
Source: https://drugfree.org/drug-and-alcohol-news/policy-news-roundup-december-19-2024/