Opioid deaths now lowest in 3 years, but still higher than pre-pandemic

Opioid overdose deaths have fallen to their lowest level in three years, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, driven by a record increase in deaths from the class of drugs that includes heroin and fentanyl during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to preliminary figures released by the agency this week, the CDC estimates there will be 75,091 opioid overdose deaths in the year ending April 2024.

At its peak last summer, the U.S. reached more than 86,000 estimated annual deaths. The rate of opioid overdose deaths is still far worse than before the pandemic, when there were fewer than 50,000 fatal overdoses per year.

Fatal overdoses from other drug classes, such as cocaine and other stimulants, have also largely fallen. But the recent drop in opioid overdoses has accounted for most of this year’s slowdown in deaths, which are down about 10% from their peak in August.

Not all states are seeing a decline in deaths. Several Northwest states, including Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming, are still reporting overdoses at or above previous records.

Campaigning against overdoses

This year’s decline comes as former President Donald Trump made the issue a central part of his campaign, often pointing to lower overdose rates during his term.

The Republican candidate has made a number of promises to end “the plague of drug addiction” in the country, including working with states to force homeless addicts into treatment and punishing drug dealers with the death penalty.

“Drug overdose deaths are up 18 percent under Kamala. But we are going to stop the plague,” Trump said last week, speaking to the Fraternal Order of Police in North Carolina.

Both Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, have also reached a tie curbing drug overdoses to immigration and border issues.

As a candidate in recent weeks, Harris has cited his previous work as a California prosecutor, where he tried cases against drug cartels, and as vice president, sponsoring a bipartisan immigration bill that the Biden administration passed. blamed Trump to thwart.

“It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl coming into the United States. I know there are so many families watching tonight who have been personally impacted by the increase in fentanyl in our country,” Harris said during Tuesday’s debate.