Drug overdose deaths drop in Arkansas
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Arkansas saw one of the sharpest declines in fatal drug overdoses from spring 2023 to spring 2024, according to preliminary CDC data.
Why it matters: Overdoses kill more than 100,000 people a year in the U.S. but the number appears to be dropping rapidly. The rate of deaths fell last year for the first time since before the pandemic.
Flashback: Arkansas legislators last year passed the Fentanyl Enforcement and Accountability Act that makes delivering a controlled substance that kills another person a death by delivery felony offense and penalizes fentanyl trafficking with 25 to 60 years or life imprisonment and a $1 million fine.
- The law also decriminalized fentanyl testing strips, which were considered drug paraphernalia as they're used to detect whether there's fentanyl in other drugs.
- Legislators also passed a law last year requiring public high schools and colleges to have naloxone on campus.
By the numbers: In the 12 months ending in April, there was a 10% decline from the same period a year before.
- In Arkansas, it was a 16% decline. This comes after the number of fatal drug overdoses in Benton and Washington counties nearly doubled from 42 in 2020 to 74 in 2022.
Between the lines: We need more data and more research to determine what's driving the decline in deaths, but experts have theories.
- Naloxone is more widely available, and more drug users carry the medication with them for safety.
- Many of the pandemic-era circumstances — like social isolation, increased stress, and people using drugs alone — are no longer factors.