US overdose deaths continue downward trend, giving experts hope

Experts aren’t sure what is causing fewer overdose deaths, but they are hopeful the decline is sustainable.

Drug overdose deaths in the United States appear to continue to decline, giving experts hope that the nation is seeing sustained improvement in what remains an epidemic.

Some 97,000 people died of a drug overdose in the 12-month period that ended June 30, according to provisional data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday. That’s down 14 percent from the estimated 113,000 for the previous 12 months.

“This is a pretty stunning and rapid reversal of drug overdose mortality numbers,” Brandon Marshall, a Brown University researcher who studies overdose trends, told The Associated Press.

Overdose death rates began steadily climbing in the 1990s because of opioid painkillers, followed by waves of deaths led by other opioids like heroin and — more recently — fentanyl. Provisional data had indicated a slight decline for 2023, and the new data suggests that the downward trend is continuing.

“This seems to be substantial and sustained,” Marshall said. “I think there’s real reason for hope here.”