Big Drop in OD Deaths: 'This Has Not Happened by Accident'

Partly due to fentanyl rampaging through the narcotics pipeline, the United States has seen a depressingly high death count from drug overdoses in recent years. Now, however, signs of improvement: According to preliminary data from the states released in August by the CDC, there was a 10% drop in that figure nationwide in the 12-month span ending in April, with about 101,000 individuals dying from ODs. That number had peaked in 2022 at around 111,000 deaths. More:

• ER visits: Emergency rooms visits for overdoses during that time dropped 24%, while 911 calls fell by nearly 17%, reports the Guardian.
• White House: Rahul Gupta, head of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, notes this is the largest such decline on record and credits the Biden administration's efforts, per the Washington Post. "This has not happened by accident," he said.

• Initiatives: Efforts to combat the problem include everything from better availability of the OD antidote naloxone (brand name Narcan); improved access to addiction treatment; and a push by law enforcement on fentanyl busts, according to researchers and public health officials.
• Other factors: The New York Times notes that the reasons behind the decline "are not perfectly clear," but some experts point out that fewer people are using drugs by themselves these days, an issue during the pandemic. They also note that people are increasingly shying away from pure fentanyl and are using, for example, fentanyl that contains xylazine, or "tranq," which is a longer-lasting sedative—often meaning less-frequent drug use, and therefore fewer chances to die of an overdose.
• Politics: The GOP, led by former President Trump, has accused the Biden administration of immigration policies that allow fentanyl across the border. Administration officials push back by noting most fentanyl comes into the US via legal ports of entry, with American citizens often serving as drug smugglers.

• Co-author's take: "Looking back over the last quarter-century, there's been no intervention that has caused a decline in overdose deaths of this magnitude," says University of North Carolina scientist Nabarun Dasgupta, one of the authors of the CDC analysis, per the Guardian. "It's unprecedented."
• Not all good news: Although states along the East Coast saw the largest declines—North Carolina, for instance, posted a 23% drop in that year's time, while Ohio and Pennsylvania each saw 19% declines—Alaska and the Pacific Northwest didn't fare quite as well. Alaska saw a 41.8% rise in deaths, while Oregon and Washington state saw a 22.3% and 13.8% spike, respectively.
• Demographics at risk: The CDC reported an increase in opioid deaths for those age 65 and older. Native Americans and Black men are also seeing death rates "at the highest recorded levels," Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, tells the Guardian.
• Caveat: The Post stresses that the CDC's numbers are preliminary and "could change. ... State data lags as coroners and medical examiners conclude death investigations."

(More drug overdose stories.)