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

Opioid overdose deaths have dropped to the lowest they have been in three years, new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest, in the wake of a record surge of fatalities from the class of drugs that includes heroin and fentanyl during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The CDC estimates that there were 75,091 opioid overdose deaths for the year ending in April 2024, according to provisional figures published this week by the agency. 

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

Fatal overdoses from other groups of drugs, like cocaine and other stimulants, have also been largely trending down. But the recent decline in opioid overdoses has driven the largest share of this year’s slowdown in deaths, which is down around 10% from its peak in August.

Not all states are tracking a decline in deaths. Several states around the Northwest, including Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming are still reporting overdoses nearly as high or higher than previous records.

Campaigning on overdoses

This year’s slowdown comes as former President Donald Trump has made the issue a central part of his campaign, often pointing out that overdoses were lower during his term.

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

“Under Kamala, drug overdose deaths are up 18%. But we’re going to stop the scourge,” 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 tied curbing drug overdoses to immigration and border issues.

As a candidate in recent weeks, Harris has cited past work as a prosecutor in California trying cases against drug cartels and as vice president supporting a bipartisan immigration bill that the Biden administration blamed Trump for thwarting.

“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 affected by the surge of fentanyl in our country,” Harris said at Tuesday’s debate.