New data shows state drug overdose deaths dip second year in a row
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New preliminary data out from the state shows that the number of fatal drug overdoses in Minnesota decreased by a quarter from 2023 to 2024. It's the second year in a row that overdose deaths dropped in the state, after a nearly 20-year uptick in Minnesota and nationwide.
The data shows that in 2024, drug overdose deaths in Minnesota dropped down to the lowest they have been since 2019. Dr. Charles Reznikoff, who works in addiction medicine at HCMC in Minneapolis, said he attributes the dip to the prevalence of the medication Narcan to prevent overdose, as well as a bipartisan effort from the state to use settlement funds from opioid companies to prevent drug use and overdose.
“Plus, fewer and fewer people are using IV needles to use drugs. If there is a trend away from needle use, they're less likely to overdose,” Reznikoff said.
Reznikoff said that a decrease in deaths for two years in a row is a good start, but it does not mean addiction and overdose rates are looking good in the state overall.
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“Around 1,000 people in Minnesota died of drug related causes in 2024. When I started my work decades ago, that was unthinkable,” Reznikoff said. “So it's not that we're in a good place. We're just starting to see improvement, and we believe that the improvement is real.”
The dip comes after the highest ever recorded number of overdose deaths in Minnesota in 2021. Reznikoff said the pandemic played a role in that spike.
“People were more isolated, people had more anxiety or mental health symptoms and people may also have had a disruption in where they get their drugs from,” Reznikoff said.
In order to keep decreasing overdose deaths, Dr. Reznikoff said that medical providers like him need to keep trying to spread life-saving overdose prevention tools like Narcan.
“This [data] is definitely a sign of hope, and it is also a sign that the work that me and my colleagues do is not futile, that we can make a change.”
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