By Forum Staff
Preliminary figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal a 32-percent drop in drug-related deaths in 2024, compared to those in 2023, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday.
An estimated 4,567 New Yorkers died of a drug overdose in 2024, compared to 6,688 in 2023. Approximately 77 percent of these deaths involved an opioid, such as heroin or fentanyl.
The State has instituted a series of innovative new programs that have helped contribute to this drop in overdose deaths. This includes making nearly $400 million in Opioid Settlement Funds available, which is the most of any state in the country. This funding is supporting various initiatives including efforts to increase medication for addiction, linking high-need individuals to services through outreach and referral programs as well as transportation services, funding recovery centers to provide recovery support services, supporting initiatives to recruit and train the addiction workforce, and public awareness activities to inform people on the risks of substance use and where they can find help.
In addition, the State Office of Addiction Services and Supports established a new online ordering portal that allows any state resident to order fentanyl and xylazine test strips and naloxone for free. To date, more than 13.2 million fentanyl test strips, 10 million xylazine test strips, and 296,000 naloxone kits have been ordered through this portal. The State Department of Health has distributed more than 537,600 naloxone kits from January 2024 to April 2025.
The State Department of Health has over 1,300 opioid overdose registered programs with over 5,000 sites across the Empire State that provide opioid overdose prevention trainings and naloxone at no cost to the participant. The State also has increased funding to amplify the range of services provided by community-based drug user health hubs. These act as a safety net for the most vulnerable New Yorkers and offer services including information on opioid overdose prevention, hepatitis C treatment, access to harm reduction services, and more rapid access to buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder.
The State has also funded Mobile Medication Units which provide medication for addiction treatment and other services and resources, bringing these services directly to underserved communities and addressing barriers that keep some people from seeking treatment. Funding has been provided to establish 11 of these units across the State, and the Fiscal Year 2026 Enacted Budget includes additional funding to further increase the number of MMUs.
“The data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are encouraging. It’s a testament to the countless communities, organizations and programs that are focused on reducing drug overdoses and the harmful impacts of substance use disorder,” said State Health Commissioner James McDonald, M.D. “While this is good news and shows we are moving in the right direction, there’s still more work to do to prevent overdose deaths. It’s vital we continue to identify communities that are not experiencing these declines equally. There’s still much to do and we remain committed to our central goal of preventing all drug overdoses in New York State and achieving an overdose free generation.”
