San Francisco noticed a 54% drop in overdose deaths in October 2024, in contrast with the identical month a 12 months earlier – the bottom month-to-month depend because the metropolis started publishing the figures in 2020, officers introduced this week.
Final month, 32 folks died of unintended overdoses within the metropolis; there have been 70 deaths in October 2023, based on a report of preliminary knowledge from the town’s workplace of the chief health worker. Overdose deaths have declined in current months and are down greater than 20% within the span between January and October this 12 months, in contrast with the identical interval final 12 months.
London Breed, the San Francisco mayor, attributed the progress to the town’s expanded assets, entry to medicines to assist folks break habit and “focused enforcement disrupting the fentanyl provide chain”.
“It’s outstanding and it’s saving lives,” Breed mentioned at a information convention. “We’ve labored arduous in San Francisco to attempt to fight these points by offering quite a lot of not simply providers and help but in addition accountability.”
San Francisco skilled its deadliest 12 months for drug overdoses in 2023 because the highly effective artificial opioid fentanyl turned extra broadly obtainable within the US drug provide.
Final 12 months, 810 folks died from unintentional drug overdoses within the metropolis, based on the workplace of the chief health worker. In August 2023 alone, somebody died of an overdose each 9 hours.
Overdose deaths within the US soared throughout the pandemic however are actually declining. Over a 12-month interval that ended on 30 June, there have been about 97,000 overdose deaths, down 14% from the earlier 12-month interval, based on provisional knowledge from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
“It is a fairly beautiful and speedy reversal of drug overdose mortality numbers,” mentioned Brandon Marshall, a Brown College researcher who research overdose developments.
Specialists haven’t decided the precise causes behind the decline, however they are saying it might be the results of extra harm-reduction methods, reminiscent of increasing the provision of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone (Narcan), in addition to remedy remedies.
The CDC director, Mandy Cohen, attributed the drop to elevated consciousness of fentanyl in addition to using fentanyl-detecting take a look at strips. In the meantime, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported seeing a lower within the efficiency of fentanyl tablets.
The Related Press contributed reporting
Supply hyperlink
