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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
AUDIO – LOST AND FOUND –
March 10, 2025 – (Elena and Vadim live on the street) “This is not a blip. We are on track to return to levels of [fatal] overdose before fentanyl emerge.” Overall drug deaths in the U.S. are down roughly a quarter, according to provisional CDC data. That includes fentanyl and other illicit drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine.
Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the U.S. government’s National Institute on Drug Abuse, said the decline in fatal overdoses linked to fentanyl is even greater.
Drug deaths in the U.S. have now dropped from a peak of 114,000 in August 2023 to just under 87,000, according to the latest provisional data from September 2024 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, where drug use has long been a widespread public health concern, many people told NPR they believe the situation has improved. “I can tell, you know, the numbers [of people dying] dropped a lot,” said Elena, who regularly smokes fentanyl and xylazine, also known as tranq.
NPR agreed not to use the last names of people who were interviewed about their drug use because the activity is illegal under state and federal law.
CONTINUE@NPR
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