The decrease refers to last year, when the number of deaths was reported to be around 80,400 people. It was a decrease of around 27 percent compared to 2023, when over 110,000 deaths due to opioid overdoses were confirmed.
Furthermore, the number of deaths is the lowest since 2019, which suggests that, among other things, federal and state initiatives to address the severe crisis of abuse of, among other things, fentanyl have had some success.
The previous President Joe Biden's administration carried out comprehensive measures to, among other things, expand addiction treatments and distribute drugs that can counteract overdoses.
However, the first Trump administration also took action against abuse, when President Donald Trump stated in 2017 that the opioid crisis was a national health crisis.
"Despite the decreased number of deaths, overdose is still the most common cause of death among Americans aged 18–44", notes the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
