Minnesota drug overdose deaths are finally starting to decline

Drug overdose deaths in Minnesota are trending downward.

The big picture: Fatal drug overdoses, which fell in the U.S. last year for the first time since before the pandemic, are continuing to decline nationwide.

Driving the news: In Minnesota, drug overdose deaths dropped 8% from 2022 to 2023, preliminary data released Wednesday by the state Department of Health shows.

• If the numbers hold, it will be the first time since 2018 that overdose deaths declined in Minnesota.

Zoom out: Public health experts are stunned by how dramatically deaths are falling nationwide, NPR reports .

• Preliminary CDC data shows a 10% decline nationwide between April 2023 and April 2024.
• "This is going to be the best year we've had since all of this started," Keith Humphreys, a drug policy researcher at Stanford, told NPR.

What's happening: More data and research is needed to determine what's driving the decline, but experts have theories.

• National and state health officials have noted that naloxone is more widely available, and more drug users carry the medication with them for safety.

Yes, but: Non-fatal overdoses overdoses involving fentanyl, a top driver of deaths, as well as opioids other than heroin, increased by 11% in Minnesota year over year.

• And deaths involving psychostimulants — a category that includes methamphetamine and cocaine — rose statewide.

What we're watching: The 2023 state budget dedicated more than $200 million to tackling substance use and overdose deaths.

• About $50 million will flow to MDH over the next four years.

The bottom line: While the trend is encouraging, more than 1,200 Minnesotans still died of overdoses in 2023.

• "We know the work is not done, and we cannot rest," Minnesota Department of Health commissioner Brooke Cunningham said in a statement. "Every overdose is one too many."