New state health department data show overdose deaths are holding steady. With a maintained average of three deaths a day, the numbers have reached a plateau after several years of sharp increases.
Epidemiologist Mary DeLaquil says even though overall numbers are down, deaths from certain types of drugs increased.
"The three categories of drugs where we saw an increase, only one of them was an opioid category," says DeLaquil. "And that category is mostly illicit fentanyl or fentanyl analog. The other two categories are psycho stimulants which is basically methamphetamine and then cocaine."
Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan’s 2023 State Budget included over $200 million to address substance use and overdoses, with $50 million of that going to to MDH over the next four years.
Fentanyl, which is more deadly and 50 times more potent than heroin, has made Minnesota’s drug supply more dangerous. Fentanyl is now involved in 92% of all opioid-involved deaths and 62% of all overdose deaths in Minnesota, according to preliminary 2022 data. Opioid-involved deaths increased 3% (977 to 1002 deaths) from 2021 to 2022, according to preliminary data.
“We are responding to the more deadly threat of fentanyl with several new tools for saving lives that were passed by the Legislature in 2023, such as expanding the availability of naloxone, and covering the costs of having it on hand, in school buildings, treatment programs, and during emergency and law enforcement calls,” said Minnesota Commissioner of Health Dr. Brooke Cunningham.