U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths Decline For First Time In Decade

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.