ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – Recent provisional data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show fatal overdose numbers nationwide in 2023 were down from 2022.
According to the data, an estimated 113,000 people were killed from fatal overdoses in 2022, compared to 97,000 the following year, a 14 percent decrease.
Virginia was one of the 45 states that saw a decrease during that same time, and the Roanoke Valley was no exception.
According to data from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), there was a 20 percent drop in fatal overdoses per 100,000 people in Roanoke City, from 125 in 2022 to 102 in 2023. Salem saw a 35 percent decrease, from 78 in 2022 to 51 in 2023.
Emergency room visits from non-fatal overdoses in the Roanoke Valley saw a 10 percent decrease, from 46 in 2022 to 42 in 2023 as well.
Local health officials are cautiously optimistic about the numbers. They believe the increase in naloxone availability could be the key.
“Naloxone is the medicine that can help reverse an overdose,” Christie Wills, the communications officer for the Roanoke and Alleghany health districts, said. “The availability of naloxone has greatly increased, and credit goes to the federal government and the state for making naloxone more widely available.”
The state has also cracked down on recent drug activity through programs like Operation Free Virginia.
“We were able to announce that through Operation Free Virginia, we had seized 550 pounds of fentanyl,” Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin said. “We are truly disrupting the elicit and illegal drug trade in Virginia.”
However, not every region has seen the same success. According to Chris Alderman, the outreach and harm reduction coordinator for the New River Health District, numbers in the New River Valley were generally the same from 2022 to 2023.
It has dealt with a recent spike in overdoses.
“We’ve had a batch of fentanyl come through the New River Valley that’s disguised as heroin,” Alderman said. “We’ve had a lot of people overdose on that in the last couple of weeks in Montgomery (County) especially, and some in Giles (County).”
Alderman did say there haven’t been any fatalities linked to the recent spike.