News brief

Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. continue to drop. There were 30,000 fewer overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released May 14. An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, a 27% drop from the 110,000 in 2023. The CDC has been collecting comparable data for 45 years. The previous largest one-year drop was 4% in 2018, according to the agency’s National Center for Health Statistics. Still, overdose deaths remain higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. And some experts worry the decline could be slowed by reductions in federal funding and the public health workforce.

Remember the opioid crisis? 46 states recorded a decline in overdose deaths.

To address America’s opioid crisis, health care experts recommend a priority on preventing fatal overdoses in the short term while helping people become sober over time. Last summer, we reported how money from legal settlements may allow states to do just that.