a drastic decline in opioid overdose deaths new provisional data from the CDC suggests National opioid overdose fatalities have dropped to their lowest level in three years at just over 10 and a half percent that's a major reversal from recent years when fatal overdoses surged in large part due to drugs being laced with fentanyl sometimes spiking by double digit percentages the CDC estimates there were a little more than 75,000 opioid overdose deaths for the year ending in April 2024 compare that though to the peak over last summer when the US reached over 86,000 estimated annual deaths it's unclear exactly why the numbers are shifting but many public health experts believe it's thanks to the availability and affordability of medical treatments for fentanyl addiction like Community naloxone programs New Jersey is among the states that expanded that Outreach and saved 300 lives last year according to State data addiction experts say there's reason to be optimistic and hopeful but it's way too soon to spike the ball on this crisis