Despite fewer deaths, the US is actually seeing more overdoses

In 2023, a trend lasting more than two decades finally reversed: Overdose fatalities in the U.S. dropped. Initially, the decline was modest, but meaningful — a 3 percent decrease from the previous year. Then, in 2024, overdose deaths plummeted 26 percent nationally.

Although the causes of this dramatic turnaround are the subject of much debate, the impact is clear: tens of thousands of lives saved; each of their families spared the irreversible pain of losing a loved one. It is a second chance at life. 

The abrupt, substantial decline in overdose deaths is an extraordinary public health achievement. But the drop in deaths only tells part of the story. Broader overdose data make clear that the crisis is far from resolved. 

As overdose deaths have declined, nonfatal overdoses — when someone survives the emergency of too much substance shutting their body down — have actually increased, reaching record highs as of this summer. In the one-year period ending in May, the U.S. recorded more than 195 nonfatal drug overdoses per 100,000 Americans, compared to 173 in 2022 when overdose deaths were at their peak. That is nearly 635,000 nonfatal overdoses in a single year.

And those are just the ones we know about because they have been documented by paramedics. About two in five nonfatal overdoses are never reported, indicating the true total likely exceeds 1 million drug overdoses in the U.S. in the past year.

Even when survived, overdoses are often life-altering events with lasting impacts, including permanent disabilities. A classic symptom of opioid overdose is the inability to breathe adequately, which leaves the brain without enough oxygen. When breathing is not restored quickly........

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