Why Drug Overdoses are Declining

May 27, 2025

A new report from the CDC indicates there were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before—the largest one-year decline ever recorded.

The provisional numbers are estimates of everyone who died of overdoses nationally, including noncitizens. That data is still being processed, and the final numbers can sometimes differ slightly.

“Now is not the time to take the foot off the gas pedal,” said Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, a drug policy expert at the University of California, San Francisco, said in an Associated Press story.

Here are some key takeaways:

• By the Numbers:  An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisional CDC data.  
• Widespread Improvement:  All but two states (Nevada and South Dakota) saw declines last year, including states that have been hard-hit in the nation's decades-long overdose epidemic.
  • Pennsylvania saw a more than 31 percent decrease in estimated overdose deaths from 2023–2024.
• Contributing Factors:  Experts say more research needs to be done to understand what drove the reduction, but they mention several possible factors.
  • Among the most cited are increased availability of overdose-reversing drug naloxone, expanded treatment, changes in how people use drugs, and the impact of billions in opioid lawsuit settlement money.
• Potential Funding Cuts Cause Concern:  Annual overdose deaths are higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. And some experts worry that the recent decline could be slowed or stopped by reductions in federal funding and the public health workforce, or a shift away from the strategies that seem to be working.
• Glass Half Full:   Naloxone has become more widely available. Meanwhile, drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacy chains. and other businesses have settled lawsuits with state and local governments over the painkillers that were a main driver of overdose deaths in the past. The deals over the last decade or so have promised about $50 billion over time, with most of it required to be used to fight addiction. The money, along with federal taxpayer funding, is going to a variety of programs, including supportive housing and harm reduction efforts, such as providing materials to test drugs for fentanyl, the biggest driver of overdoses now.

Read the report online.