Drug overdose deaths in Oklahoma are starting to decline. A new analysis of U.S. overdose data suggests a 28% drop in deaths since the state saw its highest peak between June 2022 and May 2023.
It’s the first time all 50 states, including Oklahoma, have seen at least some recovery from the opioid crisis that has defined much of the last decade. According to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the decline started in 2022-23 – sooner than previously understood.
Project lead Nabarun Dasgupta said drug overdose deaths peaked at different times across the U.S. and even at different times between neighboring states.
“If it was just a drug supply thing, you would expect more regional trends, but you just don't see that even in adjacent states,” Dasgupta said.
Despite sharing a border, patterns in Oklahoma and Arkansas looked completely different – with the number of deaths in Arkansas skyrocketing about a year prior to Oklahoma’s peak.
Still, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control, the number of deaths in both states is trending down.
Dasgupta said the decrease is “not just a blip,” but a representation of possible substantive change.
“If you have all these states peaking at different times over a three year period, then it can't possibly be a single national kind of law enforcement action that leads to this,” Dasgupta said.
“It is more likely that what we're seeing is the cumulative effect of a lot of the on the ground interventions that are happening, like with opioid settlement funds and other public health initiatives.”
Dasgupta has spent more than 20 years studying drug trends and interventions. He said the downward slope is promising, yet “fragile.” It could easily be threatened if there were a sudden disappearance of fentanyl and xylazine from the market. He said an influx of a new class of synthetic opioids like nitazenes would threaten any measures of success.
Dasgupta said public health measures can’t be abandoned, including increased access to life-saving harm reduction supplies like naloxone, or Narcan.
In Oklahoma, opioid abatement efforts are still in their early stages. The majority of money won by the state in lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors is controlled by the Opioid Abatement Board, which has only awarded its first round of grants and has not yet announced its methods for tracking success.
With a shortage of preventive and appropriate treatment measures, there are still many people struggling from the negative effects of drug use.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
