COLUMBUS, Ohio – The number of people who died of drug overdoses in Ohio was 4,452 in 2023, a 9% decrease from the previous year, according to the state’s latest unintentional drug overdose report.
This was the second consecutive year of a decrease in deaths. In 2022, overdose deaths declined by 5%, Gov. Mike DeWine and other state officials said during a Wednesday media event to announce the report. Early data for 2024 suggest unintentional drug overdose deaths are falling even further this year.
The annual unintentional drug overdose death report is closely watched, as Ohio’s opioid crisis placed it squarely in the nation’s epicenter for drug overdose deaths. In 2016 and 2017, Ohio was No. 2 in the rate of overdose deaths per 100,000 residents.
In 2023, Ohio was 12th highest, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said.
“If you look back at our data in 2023, the first half of the year compared to the second half of the year, there was an actual acceleration in the improvement in the second half of the year,” Vanderhoff said. “And preliminary data for 2024 is equally encouraging.”
Opioids – specifically fentanyl – continued to be involved in most Ohio overdose deaths last year – at 78%. This is a slight decrease from the previous three years, when fentanyl ranged from 80% to 81%, the report showed.
Fentanyl has been added to other drugs, sometimes with users being unaware. For instance, in cocaine deaths, 79% also had fentanyl, the report said.
DeWine said he believes prevention, treatment and law enforcement changes he’s made since becoming Ohio governor in 2019 are contributing to the positive trend.
The state offers naloxone, an opioid reversal drug, to anyone for free at naloxone.ohio.gov. Last year, the state distributed 291,000 free naloxone kits. Conservative estimates are that 20,000 overdoses were reversed with them, DeWine said.
“Prior to its (free naloxone) availability, there were just too many stories of loved ones and friends of someone who clearly had overdosed, who had nothing at hand they could use to save that life,” Vanderhoff said. “Well, this changes that with access to naloxone. And importantly, access to naloxone also keeps the door open for someone to enter into their journey of recovery.”
The average Ohio rate was 39 deaths per 100,000 in 2023. Black Ohioans continued to have the highest rate of drug overdose deaths last year.
Black non-Hispanic men had 100.3 overdose deaths per 100,000 population. Black men’s overdose rate was nearly twice that of white non-Hispanic men, which was 50.8 deaths per 100,000. In 2023, the Black male overdose death rate decreased 2%, compared with a 10% decrease in white non-Hispanic men.
For Black non-Hispanic females, the overdose death rate decreased 9% from 33.1 deaths per 100,000 last year. In that same time, the rate for white non-Hispanic females decreased 16% to 24.2 deaths per 100,000.
Hispanic Ohioans had lower rates of unintentional drug overdose deaths compared to the other groups, but their rates increased by 13% for men and 6% for women between 2022 and 2023.
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Laura Hancock covers state government and politics for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com.