Drug overdose deaths declined last year in the United States as fewer people lost their lives to fentanyl and other opioids, marking the first time the number of deaths fell in five years, according to newly released estimates by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Federal officials said the numbers show a 3% decline in estimated overdose deaths between 2022 and 2023. That drop equates to nearly 3,500 fewer deaths in the United States than the previous year.
The new figures are provisional and could still be updated. Even a slight decline could be a salve for a country where drug overdoses have taken a devastating toll: In one survey, more than 40% of adults said they knew someone who lost their life from a drug overdose, according to a Rand study published this year.
Community groups and health officials facing the devastating cost of fentanyl have pushed to equip more people with naloxone, a medication that can stop opioid overdoses and is commonly sold as a nasal spray under the brand name Narcan. Los Angeles County officials, for example, credited the effort to distribute Narcan on the streets when they announced last week that overdose deaths had stopped rising among the homeless.
But even as U.S. deaths related to fentanyl and other opioids decreased between 2022 and 2023, the country saw an increase in deaths related to stimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine, according to new estimates.
And not all parts of the country saw an overall drop in fatal overdoses. “On the East Coast and in the Midwest, we're seeing declines, but on the West Coast, particularly in the upper Northwest, we're still seeing increases,” said Farida Ahmad, a health scientist at the National Center for Health Statistics. .
Federal figures show that in California, the estimated number of overdose deaths continued to rise in 2023 compared to 2022, increasing 4.1%. In Oregon and Washington, the increases were significantly steeper.
Drug use can differ from region to region, determining subsequent overdoses and deaths: fentanyl reached the eastern United States before spreading west, and methamphetamine use has generally been more common on the West Coast .
Federal estimates released Wednesday do not detail how many methamphetamine-related deaths also involved other drugs, a phenomenon that has gained increasing attention as Americans mix drugs, both knowingly and unknowingly. In Los Angeles County, for example, a recent report indicated that in 2022, nearly half of overdose deaths among homeless people involved both methamphetamine and fentanyl.
As it stands, there are no medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat methamphetamine addiction, although some existing medications have shown promising results, as has offering incentives like gift cards to keep people away. of stimulants.
Americans have been eager for any sign of hope amid the overdose crisis, but experts have warned against declaring victory too soon in reaction to year-over-year changes in overdose deaths.
For example, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that the last time fatal overdoses declined nationally in 2018, the slowdown coincided with stricter regulations in China on carfentanil, a highly potent synthetic opioid. The following year, drug overdose deaths increased again.
