Daily Herald opinion: ‘Still very much a crisis’: Sharp decline in overdose deaths deserves celebration, but with caution

The sharp decline in drug-related overdose deaths reported last week is certainly encouraging news, but unfortunately, we have to be prudent in resisting the urge to celebrate.

As our Jake Griffin and Steve Zalusky explained, Cook County and the five north and northwest collar counties saw a nearly 25% decline in fatal drug overdoses in 2024 compared to the year before, according to the most recent available statistics. That was a little better than the still-impressive 23.4% decline statewide reported by the Illinois Department of Public Health but slightly behind the 27% national decline reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These are all clearly substantial numbers, with proportions so dramatic that they raise hopes for the beginning of a trend, even if they do represent the data from a single year’s comparison.

But there are more reasons to be cautious than just the short period of study.

For one, activists and addiction specialists acknowledge that a major factor in the decline is the availability and influence of the Narcan anti-overdose drug.

“What people are not actively talking about and covering are nonfatal overdoses and how those numbers have skyrocketed,” said Alex Mathiesen, a program director with the Arlington Heights-based Live4Lali organization.

If that trend continues, any celebration of the reduction in overdose-related deaths would be seriously tempered by a misleading appearance that we are controlling drug misuse and overdoses.

Moreover, another IDPH report showing that non-Hispanic Blacks are 3.9 times more likely to die from a drug overdose than non-Hispanic whites has to give us pause about where outreach efforts are concentrated and where they are not working as well.

And, both public and private agencies dealing with the causes of and responses to drug addiction express concern about the impact of federal cuts in funds — particularly to Illinois — targeting the problem.

“Now that (President Donald) Trump has basically gutted Health and Human Services, and we are in a fiscal crisis here in the state around Medicaid because of that, I don’t know that we’re going to continue to see the overdose rates go down,” Chelsea Laliberte Barnes, co-chair of the Illinois Harm Reduction and Recovery Coalition and a co-founder of Live4Lali told our reporters.

Local authorities cited the impact of new testing strips on the number of deaths, and DuPage County Coroner Coroner Judith Lukas added the specific value of education. Clearly, we have to continue to increase awareness among drug users and potential drug users of the dangers they face, as Lake County does with an opioid initiative that brings together various stakeholders to monitor activities and trends.

But even with all this, as Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek stated, “it’s still very much a crisis.”

After all, even with the 24.6% regional decline in the drug-overdose death rate, 1,749 people from our area died from an overdose during the yearlong period, and also note that despite the sharp drop last year, overdose remains a leading cause of death among all Americans aged 18-44.

So, while we’re justifiably celebrating the reduction in drug-related deaths, it’s clear much remains to be done educationally, socially and even legislatively before we’ll be able to say we truly have a handle on the drug problem.