The U.S. saw a slight decline in the number of new overdose deaths last year, marking a rare improvement in a still-raging national fentanyl crisis, preliminary federal data show.
There were about 107,500 overdose deaths in 2023, down 3% from the year before and the first decline in five years, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One factor was fewer deaths pegged to opioids including the nation’s deadliest drug, the potent synthetic fentanyl, the CDC’s preliminary numbers show.
The U.S. has struggled to stop a relentless increase in drug-overdose deaths, making 2023 a rare year. The last two declines came in 2018 and 1990, a year when there were just 8,400 overdose deaths nationwide.
Even as numbers trend lower, the U.S. recorded more than 100,000 overdose deaths for the third year in a row. Last year’s tally is roughly double the entire overdose fatality count from as recently as 2015.
I could care less about the death rates for drug addicts (its always been high) but I do care about the crushing blow such deaths must bring to the families. When they dig us up they will ask why did our families fell apart, why the deep division in our nation, why the abandonment of religion and how could drugs become a leading cause of death among the young. I will leave the answers to those questions for future generations. We seem impervious to any true reckoning much less remediation.
@ExecutiveFaithForward2wks2W
"I could care less about the death rates for human beings, yet I cite religion as one of my core values"Just wait until that happens to a member of your family when you least expect it... you reap what you sow.
Are we sure, DC just didn't change the way, they are counted? A dead person with a needle sticking out of his arm, but with high cholesterol, might now be a heart disease death.
They did it with Covid and crime stats, why not drug deaths?
@QuokkaHankNo Labels2wks2W
The US lost about 400,000 people in WWII, in 3 years and 8 months of fighting. A bit over 100,000 per year.
Biden's open borders, his partnership with China, his partnership with the Drug Cartels that control the border -- has Killed more Americans than the Empire of Japan and The Third Reich combined.
So go re watch Saving Private Ryan, and remember: the Democrats did more harm to Americans, and they are still doing it today and tomorrow.
I'd like to see the number of Fentanyl OD's saved by Narcan. That's the reason OD deaths seem to have dropped. Still too many OD's but less deaths. We have to address the drug problem totally.
@NeedfulWigeonPatriot2wks2W
Can we believe anything coming out of or influenced by the Biden administration? We know that every month large shipments of illegal drugs including fentanyl continue to be confiscated by drug officials. We also know that under the Biden admin. law enforcement agencies are now required to submit more complex and time consuming data related to every crime when reporting it to the Federal authorities who keep track of the numbers. Given that law enforcement agencies are understaffed is it logical to assume that even drug overdoses are underreported? DP
So many losers and boomers just accept that US has a drug problem and the drug war can't be won. It can be won easily if as a government you accept that it is a direct attack on your nation. The US government profits off the drug trade so they don't want it to stop. Look at what Nayib Bukele was able to do in 18 months in El Salvador. It can be done, you just have to actually declare war against the cartels and gangs, and the pharma companies.
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
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