Fentanyl deaths are plunging, but it's just the first step
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Who is Louise Vincent and how has fentanyl affected her?
We've had an entire community swept away. I can't even think of all the people that I know that have died. That's Louise Vincent talking to NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann a few years ago as fentanyl deaths in the U.S. were soaring. I mean, so many people are dead. My daughter died. Our mentors are dead. I can barely stand to be here sometimes because of all the trauma and all the people that we've lost. Vincent, who says that she has used fentanyl and heroin since she was 13, runs what's called a drug users union. That's a group that seeks to treat drug users with dignity by giving them a place where they can get a meal, a cup of coffee, even treatment. She was speaking to Mann about harm reduction for drug users.
Vincent is one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have been affected by the nation's opioid crisis, a crisis that has reached almost every corner of the country. including the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. That's where Brian Mann met Gary and Cassie Walker on their family farm a couple years ago. They've taken in nine Cherokee kids whose parents have been affected by drugs. All of the children we have adopted or fostered has been because of that. Being in foster care and going to court cases, and sometimes I would sit there for four to five or six hours, and I would not only watch one court case, but I would watch 30 or 40 at the same time. And it really hit me then just how big the problem was.
Among the kids they have cared for are a brother and sister, Ransom, who's six, and Mazzy, who's nine and not the least bit shy. So I heard you live in New York.
I do. I live in New York. She tells me she really wants to see New York, and her dad, Gary, speaks up.
Tell them why you want to go there, Manny. Okay. Because there's an American Girl doll store. The Walkers began raising Mazzy and Ransom after their parents got caught up with pain pills and fentanyl. We always remind them that God gave them to us very special and that their parents were sick, and so we were able to raise them. There is mothers out there that did lose their child, and I was able to become their mother. So it's just a lot of emotions there. Both Vincent and the Walkers spoke to Mann back in 2023, the same year that drug deaths in the U.S. reached their peak at 114,000, many of which were caused by fentanyl. Data now shows that overall drug deaths in the U.S. are down nearly a quarter, and that includes fentanyl and other illicit drugs. Consider this.
Drug deaths in the United States are falling, but that good news comes with challenges, including caring for a larger population of people who may be surviving, but who are deeply unwell. From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang.
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It's Consider This from NPR. The deadliest phase of the U.S. fentanyl crisis appears to be over. That's according to new research showing that fatal overdoses from fentanyl and other street drugs continue to plunge and have now dropped from their peak in all 50 states. NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann dug into the numbers and what that drop could mean going forward.
When Nebra and Descupta's team at the University of North Carolina finished their new analysis of drug death data, they found a positive trend that seemed inconceivable a year ago.
We are on track to return to levels of overdose before fentanyl emerged.
Drug deaths tracked nationwide by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have already plunged 24% from peak levels. Every state has now seen improvement, with many states improving by 30, 40, even 50%. Dasgupta says the number of lives being saved left him stunned.
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