Last updated : March 24, 2025
A week before President Donald Trump’s address before Congress during which he stated the illicit drug, fentanyl was destroying families across the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a statement predicting a nearly 24% decline in drug overdose deaths last year.
The 12-month period ended in September 2024 and was compared to the number of overdose deaths reported during October 2022 through September 2023. The percentage equates to 24,ooo lives saved.
Some social media influencers ran with the positive drop in numbers and celebrated this unprecedented victory, agreeing with Allison Arwady, MD, MPH, Director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, who said, “That’s more than 70 lives saved every day. CDC’s public health investments, our improved data and laboratory systems for overdose response, and our partnerships with public safety colleagues in every state mean that we are more rapidly identifying emerging drug threats and supporting public health prevention and response activities in communities across America.”
Others, though, took the negative side of the fence proclaiming that, overall, a drop from 114,000 deaths in 2023 compared to 89,000 overdose deaths during the next 12 months is nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
Tell that to the families
While it’s true that 87,000 deaths attributed to drug overdose remains an unacceptable number, the fact that 24,000 more Americans are alive today is certainly news worth celebrating. Even more so if someone you know and love suffers with substance abuse!
When we step back from seeing a “number,” we can see the positive ripple effect the decline is causing. Drug abuse and addiction destroy families and sever relationships between friends. Twenty-four thousand people and those who love them are still together. Hopefully, none struggle with substance abuse issues, but if they do, according to the CDC, it appears more are seeking help.
Positive influences
The CDC report noted that several factors have contributed to the decline in overdose deaths.
They include:
- Widespread distribution of naloxone—a life-saving medication that can reverse an opioid-related overdose
- Better access to treatment
- A shift in the illegal drug supply
- Post-pandemic emergency response times
- Continued investments in prevention and response programs
The CDC’s data-tracking program, Overdose Data to Action (OD2A), provides “robust data through its fatal and nonfatal overdose data systems.” Forty-one local health departments across forty-nine states receive OD2A funding to collect, improve, and immediately report data within their communities. The information is used to implement life-saving activities, including those listed above such as determining the geographical location of a shift in the illegal drug supply.
The CDC also funds the Overdose Response Strategy. This ingenious public health-public safety data collaboration now operates in every state. It allows public safety professionals, such as law enforcement officials, to access data helping them intercept illegal drugs.
The war rages on
United States citizens expect our government to oversee the aspects of our lives that we have entrusted to them. That includes the medical industry. When patients began receiving synthetic opioids in the late 70s post-surgery or to treat their chronic pain, the pills were considered a wonder drug. Physicians were quick to prescribe them, not realizing how quickly patients would become addicted.
We all know how quickly things went downhill from there.
There were only 6.100 reported overdose deaths in 1980. We, as a nation, found that figure to be alarming. First Lady Nancy Reagan was attributed with coining the phrase, “Just Say No” in 1982, sparking a nationwide campaign. Still, the numbers began to rise alarmingly year after year from that point forward.
By 2008, the figure was up to 36,500. Synthetic opioids, such as OxyContin, now plentiful on the black market, continue to wreak havoc on the lives of American citizens every day—more so because they contain fentanyl as well.
Approximately 114,000 Americans lost their lives due to drugs during 2023. The synthetic opioid, fentanyl, played a part in the majority—if not all—of them. Cartels cheaply manufacture fentanyl in illicit laboratories and have smuggled it into our country, as President Trump said, “like never before” while the borders were wide open.
It’s extremely lethal. Moreover, tests run on all types of confiscated drugs have shown fentanyl included as an ingredient. We’re on to them now and getting the word out to casual drug users and addicts alike. Cartels don’t care much about the specifics of measurements and, besides, fentanyl gives the marketed drug an added kick which likely creates repeat business—unless, of course, the consumers drop dead.
We haven’t seen a drop in overdose deaths since 2020 and, of course, as soon as the pandemic set in, they began to rise astronomically again. We know now that fentanyl was largely contributing to that increase. It’s been coming across the border for years now and we, along with every American who wants to end the war on drugs, agree with President Trump that it’s time for it to stop.
Twenty-four thousand lives saved is a giant step in the right direction.
