Overdose deaths in the United States declined slightly last year, the first decrease in five years, according to preliminary federal data released Wednesday.
The rare good news in the decades-old addiction crisis was attributable mostly to a drop in deaths from synthetic opioids, chiefly fentanyl, said researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics, who compiled the numbers.
But the full portrait of the death toll from street drugs remains grim. Even as opioid deaths fell, deaths from stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine rose. And some states, including Oregon and Washington, continued to experience sharp rises in overall overdose fatalities.
Drug overdoses overall in 2023 were estimated at 107,543, down from 111,029 in 2022, a 3 percent drop. Opioid deaths fell 3.7 percent while deaths from cocaine rose 5 percent and deaths from meth rose 2 percent.
Read it all (emphasis mine).
U.S. drug overdose deaths dropped slightly in 2023, the first annual decrease in drug overdose deaths since 2018.
But the overall number of deaths is still extremely high. https://t.co/ptdF17zxED
— The Hill (@thehill) May 16, 2024