Drug overdose deaths are starting to trend downward in West Virginia and across the country. That is encouraging news, especially in West Virginia which had consistently led the nation in overdose deaths per capita.
Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a 14.5 percent decline in overdose deaths from June 2023 through June 2024. That translates into 14,064 fewer deaths. In our state, the West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy reports a seven percent decline in overdose deaths for the 12-month period ending in August 2024 compared with the previous 12-month period.
The drop in West Virginia has occurred primarily during this calendar year. The most recent data from the state show a dramatic 36 percent decrease in overdose deaths from January to May 2024 compared with the same period in 2023.
“This continued reduction in overdose deaths is promising and we are amplifying our efforts,” said Dr. Stephen Loyd, DoHS Office of Drug Control Policy Director. “The fight to save lives is ongoing, and while we’ve made notable strides, our work is far from over. We will continue to expand access to life-saving tools like naloxone, comprehensive treatment programs, and critical resources to keep pushing these numbers lower.”
There are other factors that are contributing to the decline here and across the country. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administrator Anne Milgram announced at the recent Family Summit on Fentanyl that the agency is seeing a decline in the potency of fentanyl, by far the deadliest street drug.
Milgram said after testing seized fentanyl, chemists have determined that the number of pills that contain a deadly dose has declined from seven out of ten pills to five. Milgram attributed the decline in potency to pressure the U.S. is putting on two of the leading drug cartels in Mexico and their entire criminal networks.
“We should all be clear that five out of ten pills being lethal is awful, and we should not accept that,” she said, “but it is significant progress in our fight to save lives.” Milgram also credited families who have lost loved ones to drug overdoses with educating Americans on the dangers of fentanyl and increasing access to Naloxone.
Officials are also seeing an increase in pills where xylazine is mixed with fentanyl. The animal tranquilizer causes horrific open sores, but its effects last longer and it is less lethal. As the New York Times reported, “Research has found that patients admitted to emergency departments for fentanyl overdoses had less severe outcomes when xylazine was also detected.”
In some instances, users are substituting meth for fentanyl. Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, a drug policy expert and professor at the medical school at the University of California who has interviewed opioid users who also use meth, told the Times, “Person after person said that methamphetamine can either distract them or get them satiated enough in its own way that they can avoid fentanyl.”
The solution to the drug crisis in West Virginia and across the country was never going to be a Silver Bullet; it was always going to take sustained and coordinated efforts involving law enforcement, treatment and research. The statistics are finally starting to show that those efforts are beginning to pay off.