Fatal drug overdoses fall for third straight year: CDC

Newly released provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that fatal drug overdoses fell in 2025, marking three consecutive years of declines.

By December 2025, the number of reported drug overdose deaths in the U.S. fell by 14 percent to 68,632 deaths, according to provisional data. The predicted number of deaths, 69,973, is higher than the current reported amount as the initial figure is assumed to underrepresent the true count. About 0.3 percent of the deaths are part of pending investigations.

In December of 2024, the 12-month reported death count was 80,860.

“Drug overdose deaths are often initially reported with no cause of death (pending investigation), because they require lengthy investigation, including toxicology testing,” the CDC’s........

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