Overdose deaths are falling fast in Virginia

Here's some good news: fatal drug overdoses in Virginia are falling at a faster rate than the U.S. average, according to preliminary CDC data.

The big picture: Overdoses kill more than 100,000 Americans a year, but the number appears to be dropping rapidly.

• Fatal drug overdoses, which fell nationwide last year for the first time since before the pandemic, are continuing to decline.
• The most recent CDC data, which ends in April, shows that the number of overdose deaths is falling faster than the 3% decrease between 2022 and 2023.

By the numbers: CDC data looks at rolling totals over 12-month periods.

• In the 12 months ending in April, there was a 15% decline in Virginia from the same period a year before, compared to a 10% decline for the nation as a whole.
• That's going from drug overdoses killing 2,551 Virginians in 2023 period to 2,162 in the latest one, or 389 lives saved.

Zoom in: Public health experts are stunned by how dramatically deaths are falling, NPR reports.

• "This is going to be the best year we've had since all of this started," Keith Humphreys, a drug policy researcher at Stanford, told NPR.

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 people are carrying 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.