Coast to coast, major U.S. cities are seeing measurable drops in drug overdose deaths. Public health officials welcome the news despite an inability to fully explain the decrease.

Coast to coast, major U.S. cities are seeing measurable drops in drug overdose deaths. Public health officials welcome the news despite an inability to fully explain the decrease.

After years of rising, the tide may finally be turning on deadly drug overdoses in America.

Drug overdose deaths fell 12.7% in the 12 months ending in May, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This is the largest recorded reduction in overdose deaths,” White House officials said in a statement. “And the sixth consecutive month of reported decreases in predicted 12-month total numbers of drug overdose deaths.”

It’s also the first time since early 2021 that the number of estimated drug overdose deaths for a 12-month period fell below 100,000, to 98,820.

It’s categorically good news. It’s also a bit puzzling to the public health experts who have been working for years to stop the upward trajectory of opioid deaths, driven primarily by fentanyl.

    • draughtcyclist@lemmy.world
      37·
      1 month ago

      Judging from the fact that Oregon, Washington and Colorado are not seeing deaths reduced my thought is no.

      But it should still happen.

    • Ledivin@lemmy.world
      8·
      1 month ago

      While I’m sure that does have some effect, the vast majority of people using marijuana aren’t at an outsized risk of overdosing on other drugs. The vast, vast majority of users don’t use anything harder, usually just alcohol.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
      4·
      1 month ago

      While that does definitely have an effect, I think the population more affected by that is not the population who are at risk of actually overdosing.

      • treadful@lemmy.zipEnglish
        5·
        1 month ago

        Maybe initially. But long term, if people get into weed through a legal market, they have no reason to engage in the black market, which provides access to lots of other drugs you can OD on.

        • Dasus@lemmy.world
          1·
          1 month ago

          Sure.

          No other reason thatn… well, pretty much the exact same reasons there are now. I mean, yeah, it’s not nothing that people who sell weed sometimes also deal other substances, but the people introduced to a new substance at their dealers is more a D.A.R.E: thing than what tends to happen in real life.

          Legalising weed won’t get rid of the use of other substances. We will have to reform the drug laws on all substances.