New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics shows which U.S. states saw the greatest decrease in overdose deaths between 2022 and 2023.
During that time, drug overdose deaths decreased by 4% nationwide, marking the first time overdose deaths declined since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The trend continued into 2024, with overdose deaths falling 17% between July 2023 and July 2024, CBS News previously reported.
Between 2022 and 2023, age-adjusted rates of drug overdose deaths “significantly” decreased in 20 states, including New Jersey, Michigan, Kansas, Louisiana and Florida, which saw “significant decreases” during this window.
Six states — Alabama, Alaska, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington — saw “significant increases” in overdose deaths. The remaining 24 U.S. states and the District of Columbia saw “non-significant” changes in overdose death rates.
The state with the highest rate of overdose deaths per 100,000 people was West Virginia, with 81.9 deaths per 100,000 people. The states with the lowest rates were Nebraska, which had 9 deaths per 100,000 people, and South Dakota, which saw 11.2 deaths per 100,000 people.
The types of drugs found in overdoses also changed during this time period. Nationwide, overdose deaths involving opioids, including the synthetic opioid fentanyl, fell, while overdose deaths involving psychostimulants with abuse potential, like methamphetamine, rose.
Overdose deaths involving opioids decreased in 20 states, and increased in nine. Overdose deaths with synthetic opioids like fentanyl decreased in 17 states and rose in 11. Meanwhile, overdose deaths involving psychostimulants like methamphetamine fell in nine states and rose in six. Overdose deaths involving cocaine decreased in three states and increased in 13.
Experts have previously credited the decrease in opioid deaths to more aggressive public health actions, including making the opioid-reversal medication naloxone available over the counter, and efforts to expand access to medications that can treat opioid use disorder.
“We are encouraged by this data, but boy, it is time to double down on the things that we know are working. It is not a time to pull back, and I feel very strongly, and our data shows, that the threat continues to evolve,” Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, told CBS News in November.
