2d ago

Overdose deaths are falling nationwide. Why?

www.thereportingproject.org

Overdose deaths are falling nationwide. Why? - The Reporting Project - Covering Licking County, Ohio

Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System indicated a nearly 24% decline in drug overdose deaths in the United States for the 12 months ending in September 2024, compared to the previous year.

16 comments

Just gotta stop counting. Trump had been saying it for years. If you want to lower the stats just stop counting.

Opiates are not prescribed nearly as much as they were a few years back.

If those prone to overdose, already did, then that's why. I had a few friends OD during the pandemic. I sure hope I don't have to keep watching more friends die, but I probably will.
- This. Fentanyl arriving in my islands in primarily pill form ended my street connection for opiates, and it was easy enough to stop bc I wasn't even abusing the pills I'd buy, because I could stretch 5/10 pills across 6+months of only taking them when weed wasn't able to touch my suffering. Now I just use alcohol for pain management like regular people do ig 😭

I wish we could poll drug dealers.
Cuz I know what they'll say. That everyone is fucking broke.
- Millennials are destroying yet another proud American industry! "Buying drugs? In this economy?"
  
  "Spinning around until dizzy sweeps nation too broke to buy real drugs."
- the sacklers?
  
  That reminds me, I need to sharpen my guillotine.

Peter Zeihan did a short video on this recently. The tl;dw was:
Fentanyl is pretty new and both the producers and consumers didn't know how to dose it properly. Producers are now producing lower concentration output, and consumers have learned how to better meter their intake.
Anti-OD drugs are available for private ownership now, so a friend or family member can more easily save someone who is ODing.
And to a lesser extent: A bunch of people died, they can't die again.
- Fentanyl ODs are actually on the rise further west in the US, where it typically has not been in the supply as much as the East Coast.
  Part of the reality is that people are just used to it and are being more careful, including by relying on naloxone
- If so, wastewater concentration levels should remain high.
  
  Maybe. All the users dying not only lowered the number of users in a very direct fashion, but likely convinced a bunch of others to seek their high elsewhere.