Overdose Deaths Beginning To Decline Following COVID-19

Overdose deaths in the U.S. have declined slightly overall since the fall of 2023, as have overdose deaths from opioids, including fentanyl. Provisional counts of drug overdose deaths hit an all-time high in June 2023 (111,418) and stayed fairly consistent until August 2023 (111,448). Since then, numbers have been steadily falling to 97,309 deaths in April 2024.

Despite this recent decline, current levels are still above levels seen prior to the start of COVID-19: 74,679 deaths were reported in March 2020. This makes April 2024 numbers 30.3% higher than those at the . . .