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According to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last year, the United States saw the first decline in fatal drug overdoses since 2018. Nationwide, overdose deaths declined 3%, and Indiana’s overdose deaths declined 18%. This is news we should celebrate, even as we mourn the 107,543 Americans—including about 2,190 Hoosiers—who lost their lives due to a drug overdose in 2023.
We must also recognize the grim reality that the number of overdose deaths remains at an all-time high, with overdose deaths from 2021 through 2023 totaling a staggering 326,194 Americans. As we enter the second half of 2024, we must refocus our collective energies on tackling the opioid crisis, which has morphed over the past decade from a prescription-drug crisis to a street-drug crisis, driven by the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
It’s hard to believe that, only 10 years ago, our country was just beginning to reckon with the opioid crisis. In 2013, 43,982 Americans died from a drug overdose. Thirty-seven percent of these deaths was attributed to prescription opioids and 19% to heroin. By contrast, 74,702, or 70%, of drug overdose deaths in 2023 were attributed either in whole or in part to fentanyl, and prescription opioids were present in only about 10% of cases.
The strategies states have implemented since 2013—such as limiting distribution of prescription opioids through prescription drug monitoring programs and expanding addiction treatment centers—have had a positive impact, but there’s no denying there’s much more work to be done. To reduce the number of future deaths and help people living with addiction stay in recovery, we must remain vigilant so we can adapt our strategies as the opioid crisis continues to evolve.
A new resource for tackling this crisis is the $50 billion national settlement with opioid distributors and manufacturers. Since 2022, over $4.3 billion has been paid out to states and local governments, according to KFF Health News’ opioid-settlement tracking database. Indiana is slated to receive $925 million over the next 18 years and has already received $135 million. Indiana’s Next Level Recovery website provides the details of the settlement, along with an annual report on use of the funds. The most recent report shows that 81% of abatement funds and 87% of unrestricted funds paid to local units of government in Indiana had not yet been expended, encumbered or designated.
Indiana has adopted guiding principles for the use of settlement funds, including spending money to save lives and investing in youth prevention. Much work has been done over the past decade by the state and local communities that adhere to these principles and provide examples that can be replicated by cities and towns seeking to make the most of settlement dollars.
One such example is Prevention Matters, a $13 million initiative funded by the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation to help Marion County’s K-12 schools implement substance use prevention programs for children and teens. The foundation developed implementation toolkits for schools and partnered with the Indiana Department of Education to make the toolkits available for free to schools statewide through the Indiana Learning Lab, an online portal for educators.
Despite last year’s promising decline in fatal drug overdoses, the opioid crisis is far from over. We must work with urgency to strategically allocate opioid settlement dollars and other resources so we can prevent future deaths and help our fellow Hoosiers living with substance use disorder find the treatment they need.•
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Fiddian-Green is president and CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, whose mission is to advance the vitality of Indianapolis and the well-being of its people. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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