Overdose deaths saw a sharp drop in the U.S. Experts hope it’s not ‘a blip’ [Video]

New figures from the U.S. Centres for Disease Control show a sharp drop in overdose deaths, offering a rare glimmer of hope in the fight to curb the opioid crisis.

“I’ve been studying overdose mortality data for over 20 years, and I don’t think I’ve felt hopeful like this in decades,” said Naburan Dasgupta, an epidemiologist and a street drug scientist at the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center.

Dasgupta’s research contributed to the CDC’s findings, published in September. The data showed a 10.6 per cent drop in drug overdose mortality across the U.S. from April 2023 to April 2024. Some states showed even higher decreases of up to 30 per cent.

In an update this week, the CDC predicted the drop in fatalities for May 2023 to May 2024 would be even bigger, at 12.7 per cent. That drop includes overdoses from both stimulants like cocaine, and opioids like heroin and fentanyl.

The CDC has described the decline as “the first …