Charges of drug overdose deaths decreased in the US for the primary time because the COVID-19 pandemic started, in response to new federal knowledge revealed early Thursday.
The speed of overdose deaths fell from 32.6 deaths per 100,000 individuals in 2022 to 31.3 per 100,000 individuals in 2023, a 4% lower, in response to the report from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention’s Nationwide Middle for Well being Statistics.
Dr. Aitzaz Munir, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Rutgers New Jersey Medical Faculty and affiliate program director for the Rutgers Dependancy Medication Fellowship Program, instructed ABC Information the drop within the overdose demise price was “shocking” to him however a constructive signal.
He mentioned he believes the lower in deaths could also be on account of a extra “aggressive method” towards the therapy of drug situations together with extra therapy packages and making them extra broadly out there.
This consists of making naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, extra broadly out there and rising the supply of drug checking provides, together with fentanyl take a look at strips.
“So, there could be a greater response in locations the place these remedies can be found and sufferers are getting these remedies,” he mentioned. “Therapy for habit works, and if we’re seeing this consequence that there is a lower in demise charges, that’s due to the therapy the sufferers are getting.”
Fee of Drug Overdose Deaths within the U.S. By State, 2023. Fee per 100,000 individuals
Nationwide Middle for Well being Statistics, Nationwide Important Statistics System, mortality knowledge file
Dr. Magadelna Cerdá, a professor within the division of inhabitants well being and director of the middle for opioid epidemiology and coverage at New York College Grossman Faculty of Medication, mentioned the drop can also be linked to a lower within the fentanyl provide.
Fentanyl has been related to a rise in overdose deaths during the last a number of years. It’s as much as 50 occasions stronger than heroin and 100 occasions stronger than morphine, and could be lethal even in small doses, in response to the CDC.
She mentioned the U.S. Drug Enforcement Company introduced final yr that the efficiency of fentanyl capsules brokers have been seizing was reducing, which can be contributing to the decline.
“Because the drug provide has turn into extra saturated with fentanyl, good drug provide could also be turning into extra steady, and folks could also be simply creating a tolerance for fentanyl,” Cerdá mentioned.
The report discovered that West Virginia was the state with the very best price at 81.9 deaths per 100,000 whereas Nebraska had the bottom price at 9.0 deaths per 100,000.
Moreover, between 2022 and 2023, charges of drug overdose deaths decreased in 20 states and didn’t change considerably in 25 states.
In the meantime, over that very same interval, will increase had been seen in six states: Alabama, Alaska, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
Cerdá mentioned one speculation is that the rise in overdose demise charges in western states could also be on account of shifts within the drug market.
“We noticed that the penetration of fentanyl actually began within the East Coast,” she mentioned. “Over time, we noticed a shift within the drug provide the place fentanyl truly has began to enter the western drug markets … we additionally see a current improve in counterfeit capsules containing fentanyl, which has additionally infiltrated the drug market.”
Nationwide, the overdose demise price from any opioid decreased from 25 deaths per 100,000 in 2022 to 24 deaths per 100,000 deaths in 2023. The demise price from artificial opioids aside from methadone — which incorporates fentanyl — fell as effectively from 22.7 deaths to 22.2 deaths per 100,000.
In the meantime, the overdose demise price for psychostimulants with abuse potential, which incorporates methamphetamine, elevated from 10.4 deaths per 100,000 in 2022 to 10.6 deaths in 2023. The demise price for cocaine additionally elevated from 8.2 deaths per 100,000 to eight.6 over the identical interval.
“We should always have a good time the decline in overdose deaths, notably in a few of these areas which have traditionally been most arduous hit by this epidemic,” Cerdá mentioned. “And we should always make investments sources and making an attempt to determine why the lower is going on, and the way can we study, notably from these states which might be experiencing this lower to proactively reply to these states that are at the moment experiencing a rise.”
