What drug is the leading cause of overdose deaths in the U.S.? Fentanyl has had that distinction since 2017.

According to a new analysis—Drugs Most Frequently Involved In Drug Overdose Deaths: United States, 2017–2023—since 2017, fentanyl has been the leading cause of overdose deaths in the U.S., over 73,000 per year in 2022 and 2023. This represents 69% of overdose deaths in 2023.

In addition, fentanyl was the most common concomitant substance found in overdoses due to other drugs, ranging from 99.0% of xylazine-involved drug overdose deaths to 48.3% of oxycodone-involved drug overdose deaths. Cocaine and methamphetamine were also frequent concomitant drugs.

Despite the news coverage that drug overdose deaths dropped in 2023 (which they did), the upward trend in overdose deaths…