Overdose deaths are falling fast

Fatal drug overdoses, which fell in the U.S. last year for the first time since before the pandemic, are continuing to decline, according to preliminary CDC data.

Why it matters: Overdoses kill more than 100,000 people a year, but the number appears to be dropping rapidly.

The most recent CDC data, which ends in April, shows that the number of overdose deaths is falling faster than the 3% decrease between 2022 and 2023.

By the numbers: CDC data looks at rolling totals over 12-month periods.

In the 12 months ending in April, there was a 10% decline from the same period a year before.

Zoom in: Public health experts are stunned by how dramatically deaths are falling, NPR reports.

“This is going to be the best year we've had since all of this started,” Keith Humphreys, a drug policy researcher at Stanford, told NPR.

Between the lines: We need more data and more research to determine what’s driving the decline in deaths, but experts have theories.

Naloxone is more widely available, and more drug users carry the medication with them for safety.Many of the pandemic-era circumstances — like social isolation, increased stress, and people using drugs alone — are no longer factors.

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