• What's behind the significant drop in opioid overdose deaths

    What's behind the significant drop in opioid overdose deaths

    May 15, 2025 10:35 PM EDT

    ... think getting -- the big one is naloxone and Narcan. There's this medication that gets into the community where people can literally reverse a fentanyl overdose or an opioid overdose. Before that was there, people just died. And now even many of the people in severe addiction that I talk ...

  • U.S. overdose deaths fell by 27% last year — the largest one-year decline ever recorded

    U.S. overdose deaths fell by 27% last year — the largest one-year decline ever recorded

    May 14, 2025 04:18 PM EDT

    ... and advocates. “We believe that taking a public health approach that seeks to support — not punish — people who use drugs is crucial to ending the overdose crisis,” said Dr. Tamara Olt, an Illinois woman whose 16-year-old son died of a heroin overdose in 2012. She is now executive ...

  • Drug overdose deaths dropped nationwide. Experts are working to understand why

    Drug overdose deaths dropped nationwide. Experts are working to understand why

    Dec 12, 2024 11:25 PM EDT

    New data from the CDC shows a drop in drug overdose deaths, down nearly 17 percent compared year-over-year. The annual death toll dropped from approximately 113,000 to just over 94,000. It’s a rare bit of good news after decades of rising fatalities. Overdose deaths have nearly quadrupled since 2002 and spiked to record highs during...

  • Overdose deaths down in U.S., providing experts hope for ongoing decline

    Overdose deaths down in U.S., providing experts hope for ongoing decline

    Nov 13, 2024 06:43 PM EDT

    One is COVID-19. In the worst days of the pandemic, addiction treatment was hard to get and people were socially isolated — with no one around to help if they overdosed. “During the pandemic we saw such a meteoric rise in drug overdose deaths that it’s only natural we ...

  • Overdose deaths involving antidepressants are on the rise. The reason why is complex

    Overdose deaths involving antidepressants are on the rise. The reason why is complex

    Oct 20, 2024 09:30 PM EDT

    For the first time in decades, public health data shows a sharp drop in U.S. drug overdose deaths. But at the same time, numbers from the CDC show that fatal overdoses involving antidepressants have been on the rise for the past two decades. John Yang speaks with clinical psychologist and behavioral scientist Alison Athey for...

  • At least 1 arrest made in connection to Matthew Perry's overdose death, law enforcement source says

    At least 1 arrest made in connection to Matthew Perry's overdose death, law enforcement source says

    Aug 15, 2024 03:11 PM EDT

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities have arrested at least one person in connection with Matthew Perry's death from an accidental ketamine overdose last year, a law enforcement official tells The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on condition ...

  • Why Baltimore is seeing more drug overdose deaths than any other American city

    Why Baltimore is seeing more drug overdose deaths than any other American city

    Aug 14, 2024 10:35 PM EDT

    More than 100,000 Americans are dying from drug overdoses every year, largely from the synthetic opioid fentanyl. But in recent years, no city has been hit as hard as Baltimore when it comes to overdose deaths. Special Correspondent Chris Booker examines why addiction has become so deadly in a city that has seen a steady...

  • 'The pain is so much.' How stigma and shame over fatal overdose make grief more unbearable

    'The pain is so much.' How stigma and shame over fatal overdose make grief more unbearable

    Jun 05, 2024 12:00 PM EDT

    Nationwide, established support group networks exist for people with a parent, child or sibling who is struggling with substance use as they seek out treatment with the goal of entering recovery. But the same is not true for those who have witnessed that struggle end tragically.

  • Overdose fatalities fell last year, but the full picture is more complicated

    Overdose fatalities fell last year, but the full picture is more complicated

    May 15, 2024 02:00 PM EDT

    ... latest data. Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, chief science officer for the Washington State Department of Health, said more widespread use of fentanyl likely drove up overdose deaths. More than 3,000 people died from overdose in the state last year. Fentanyl is cheap, easy to manufacture, far more potent than ...

  • California is joining with a New Jersey company to buy a generic opioid overdose reversal drug

    California is joining with a New Jersey company to buy a generic opioid overdose reversal drug

    Apr 29, 2024 08:07 PM EDT

    ... the CalRx label once its approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a process the Newsom administration said could take several months. Opioid overdose deaths, which are caused by heroin, fentanyl and oxycodone, have increased dramatically in California and across the country. Annual opioid overdose deaths in California ...