Overdose deaths dropped nationally for the second straight year with only five states reporting increases — with Alaska topping those states with a 38.68% increase in deaths for the 12-month period ending June 30, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nationwide overdose deaths dropped 14% to about 97,000, compared to 113,000 the previous year, the CDC reported. In Alaska there were 398 deaths for the year-long period ending June 30 compared to 287 the previous year.
However, the statewide increase reported by the CDC is lower than the rate during the 2023 calendar year, according to a report published Oct. 24 by the state Department of Health. Alaska suffered its highest-ever drug overdose death rate in 2023, with a 44.5% increase that was contrary to the first nationwide decline during a calendar year since 2018.
A chart shows drug overdose deaths in Alaska since 2015. (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chart)
The overdose rate in Southeast Alaska jumped 40.1% in 2023 with 29 deaths, compared to a regional low of 24% in Southwest Alaska and regional high of 79.9% in Anchorage, according to the report.
A statement released by the health department at the time declared “the burden of overdose fatalities will not be solved by one agency, organization, or department.”
“Our response is weaving together the work done by so many, along five cords of intervention: interdiction, prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery,” Robert Lawrence, the state’s chief medical officer, said in the statement. “Only with strong collaboration will we be able to pull people to freedom and turn the tide on this epidemic.”
Preventative actions taken since 2023 include a new law passed this spring by the Alaska Legislature requiring schools to stock overdose response kits containing naloxone, two new opioid response programs launched by SEARHC in Southeast Alaska in 2023 and a statewide public awareness campaign.
The report released by the health department stated “notable increases were seen in the number of overdose deaths involving fentanyl (a synthetic opioid) and methamphetamine (a psychostimulant), increasing 75% and 51%, respectively. The largest declines were seen in heroin and other opioid deaths (e.g., oxycodone, hydrocodone, etc.), decreasing 60% and 31%, respectively.
“In 2023, individuals at comparatively higher risk of dying from drug overdose included men, American Indian/Alaska Native people, those aged 35-44 years old and those residing in the Anchorage Public Health Region.”
CDC officials said the end of the COVID-19 pandemic may have been a factor in the nationwide drop since people were isolated during lockdowns, although there appears to be no single main cause.
“During the pandemic we saw such a meteoric rise in drug overdose deaths that it’s only natural we would see a decrease,” Farida Ahmad, of the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, told the Associated Press.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
