🌅 Fewer Americans Are Dying by Overdose

SOURCE

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

WHAT TO KNOW

• Provisional data from the CDC shows there were 30,000 fewer overdose deaths in the U.S. last year compared to the year prior, marking a 27% decrease. It’s the largest one-year decline ever recorded, as deaths decreased across all categories and fell in every state but two (Nevada and South Dakota experienced small increases).

WHY IT MATTERS

• Experts say the decline appears to be the result of multiple factors, including the Biden administration’s expanded public health response, lower rates of drug use among young Americans, and the unfortunate reality that the fentanyl crisis in recent years has already claimed the lives of many of society’s most vulnerable people. A recent study by RAND also found 42% of U.S. adults reported personally knowing someone who has died from an overdose, suggesting roughly 125 million Americans have experienced such a loss.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• In 2017, Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, clearing the way for his and future administrations to provide additional resources to tackle the problem. Eight years later, the CDC data showing an unprecedented decline in overdose deaths was released while Trump’s current health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., testified to Congress about the administration’s cuts to federal health programs, including programs addressing the opioid crisis.