New Jersey drug deaths plummet in first half of 2024

Suspected drug deaths fell 26% year-over-year in the first six months of the year as an overdose antidote became more broadly available. (Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

Overdose deaths in New Jersey dropped precipitously in the first six months of 2024, falling more than a quarter with even steeper drops in some counties, according to preliminary statistics maintained by the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner.

The office reported 1,007 suspected drug deaths in the first six months of 2024, down 26% from the 1,366 suspected deaths reported during the same time period in 2023.

The drop follows recent moves to expand the availability of naloxone, an opioid overdose antidote often referred to by its brand name, Narcan.

“While we continue to see too many deaths overall and especially in our communities of color, year over year reductions in suspected and confirmed overdose deaths reflect the collective impact of the Administration’s whole-of-government approach,” said Nancy Kearny, a Department of Health spokesperson.

Drug deaths declined in 17 of the state’s 21 counties and rose in only three — Hunterdon, Cape May, and Somerset — while they remained static in Sussex, which reported 16 suspected drug deaths in the first six months of 2024 and 2023.

In raw terms, the greatest declines came in Camden County, which reported 70 fewer drug deaths — a 39% decrease — than it did last year, though drug deaths remained more numerous there than in any other New Jersey county except Essex.

“We have worked tirelessly to combat this insidious epidemic and to see in real time that our efforts are working is an indescribable feeling,” Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli said in a statement. “This report shows that curbing overdose is possible through a variety of harm reduction measures, such as making Narcan and medically assisted treatment widely available.”

Essex saw more moderate declines. Drug deaths there fell from 230 in the first months of 2023 to 182 in the same period this year, a 21% drop.

The decline in drug deaths statewide follows an 11% drop in 2023.

Somerset County saw the largest increase — its drug deaths rose by 87% to 28 — while Cape May reported five more suspected drug deaths over the same period in 2023, a 39% increase. In Hunterdon, suspected drug deaths rose by two, a 50% increase over last year.

In all three counties, suspected drug deaths are down compared to the first six months of 2022 despite the year-over-year increases.

Though almost all deaths reported in the state medical examiner’s preliminary statistics are later validated, the office only records deaths reviewed by a medical examiner, so some deaths are excluded from preliminary counts. The state reported 3,054 confirmed overdose deaths in 2022, while the medical examiner’s preliminary count was 2,892.

Observers note the change in drug deaths coincided with more harm reduction services.

“Since we’ve been moving in that direction, since we’ve been expanding harm reduction services and decriminalizing paraphernalia, we have started to see that decline,” said Marleina Ubel, a senior policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective, a left-leaning think-tank.

New Jersey in January 2023 launched a program that allows residents as young as 14 to obtain naloxone free of charge and without a prescription at participating pharmacies.

The program has dispensed nearly 95,000 two-dose naloxone kits through pharmacies since launching, including 28,902 this year, said Tom Hester, a spokesperson for the Department of Human Services, which administers the program.

“Naloxone saves lives and gives people a second chance and a new opportunity toward recovery. New Jersey has made this life-saving medication available to all free of charge because everyone deserves that opportunity,” Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman said.

As naloxone has become more widely available, its use by law enforcement and emergency medical services personnel has dipped.

Police and medics administered naloxone in 4,154 incidents during the first five months of 2024, down from 5,539 over the same period in 2023, according to a Department of Health website that monitors naloxone doses dispensed by first responders. Naloxone data for June 2024 is not yet available.

The website does not include data on naloxone dispensed to universities, libraries, and other public institutions. Such doses number more than 525,000.

“It would not surprise me at all if naloxone administration was actually the same or even gone up. It’s just that the dashboard is not capturing that because it only captures what first responders are using,” Ubel said.

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