Deaths from drug overdoses in the U.S. have dropped 22% from 2023-2024, according to a Johns Hopkins School of Nursing release about a new paper published in the BMJ.
The authors suggest this is due to “investments in overdose prevention and substance use disorder treatment.” They stress the importance of continuing and increasing these investments to prevent a “war on drugs” and to advance current progress.
While overall overdose death rates are declining, they are increasing in some states. The paper investigates possible reasons for this. Additionally, “it notes promising new strategies to further eliminate substance related prevention and treatment inequities such as: community and family-based models of prevention and treatment service delivery in marginalized communities and achieving a health workforce more representative of the populations served.”
The paper was written by Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, Adam Benzekri, Loftin Wilson, and Marissa D. Abram.
