Maryland is seeing a hopeful decline in overdose deaths, mirroring a national trend, but the fight against the opioid crisis is far from over.
According to a Maryland Matters article, Maryland has seen a decline in overdose deaths over the past year. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that overdose deaths in Maryland fell by 6.16% between April 2023 and April 2024, with 2,348 lives lost compared to 2,506 during the previous year. Maryland has experienced substantial impacts from both opioid and stimulant overdoses, and local jurisdictions have been leading efforts to implement harm reduction measures and law enforcement strategies.
This downward decline in Maryland aligns with a national trend. As previously covered by MACo, the number of overdose deaths in the United States has started to decline for the first time in five years. While this is an encouraging development, Maryland’s progress lags slightly behind the national average, where overdose deaths dropped by 10% over the same period.
One key strategy in Maryland’s fight against overdose deaths has been a state and local partnership focused on harm reduction efforts. Special Secretary of Opioid Response Emily Keller believes these efforts are why Maryland is seeing a downward trend in deaths. From Maryland Matters:
“It’s definitely not for a lack of effort, and I think with all the very targeted outreach that we are doing and the measures we’re putting in place,” she said, “like tailoring to ZIP-code level data, like partnering with all of the jurisdictions and creating a collaboration plan … we’re going to see Maryland just continue to get better,” said Emily Keller, Special Secretary of Opioid Response.
Across the state, Local Health Departments are implementing evidence-based strategies to address the public health aspects of the crisis. Stay tuned to Conduit Street for more information.
