United States: Drug poisoning deaths have decreased across America nationwide last year, which is the first annual decline since 2018, as the CDC statistics show.
More about the news
As the CDC reported, the number of overdoses in the USA committed as a result of drug abuse is estimated to be 107,543, which is 3 percent less than 111,029 lethal overdoses reported in 2022, as USA Today reported.
However, CDC National Center for Health Statistics officials have pointed out that the estimates are based on provisional data, and the same estimates are not comparable to the final figures that will be expected to be released later this year or early next year.
The evidence also remains in line with and in relation to the worrying spike in fatal overdoses during the COVID-19 epidemic; the death toll remains “catastrophically high,” as articulated by Kevin Roy, the chief public policy officer at Shatterproof, a nonprofit that tackles addiction treatment.
Regardless of that fact, the nation all over was observing a reduction in overdose deaths; there have been states like Alaska, Washington, and Oregon whose fatal overdose counts had grown at even higher rates.
More about overdose cases
Overdosing involved with synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, accounts for 2 out of 3 overdose deaths. According to statistics, this number has been increasing during recent years, with many smugglers operating in and sending illicit fentanyl, which is available cheaply at any store, from the outside into the United States.
Menace caused by fentanyl overdose deaths
Fentanyl is frequently mixed with street drugs, and consequently, victims might have more than one drug in their body that can result in an overdose.
The CDC battled such statistics the last year, which is more than 36,000 deaths because of psychostimulants, including methamphetamine. About 30,000 reported cocaine-related cases in systems of patients are under the estimates report.
According to CDC Director Mandy Cohen, the preliminary figures show there are “far too many” overdose deaths; the trajectory of a number of cases reflects the “potency of what’s in our communities.”
Cohen said, “We’re working hard, so I’m glad to see it’s a small reduction,” and, “It’s a start, but we have more work to do there, and I want to see that continue,” USA Today reported.