Following months of decline, overdose deaths continue to drop to lowest levels in 3 years; CDC

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The estimated number of drug overdose deaths continues to drop to its lowest levels in three years, following months of continued decline, according to the most recent CDC data.

Some say it's a hopeful trend, although researchers say there needs to be more data and research to learn more about why it's happening.

"Naloxone being widely available is huge," Chandler Picot said. "Overall, the education is working, and the resources, we still need more funding, of course. But overall, it's working."

In the past two decades, more than 37,000 North Carolinians lost their lives to drug overdose. Chandler Picot was almost one of them, but now he's helping others in recovery as North Carolina is seeing fatal overdoses drop by 20%.

"North Carolina is doing a good job of really taking care of this issue," Picot said. "We could be doing more, but we are definitely doing something."

For Wake County mom Freida MacDonald, who turned heartbreak into action after her son's overdose death in 2016, she said it was exciting news to hear as she was answering calls on the recovery helpline on Thursday.

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"I feel really encouraged," MacDonald said. "When my son died from fentanyl in 2016, the numbers that year were 67,000, and they doubled after that time. I was working in the calls, and so I'm really encouraged to see them going overall in the right direction."

Colin Miller, who is the community liaison within the Opioid Data Lab Team at UNC-Chapel Hill, said there could be a combination of things that are causing this decline, such as the usage of other street drugs, including the chemical xylazine, that Miller said is a harmful contaminant but has a lower overdose profile than fentanyl or heroin.

"It's good that it's happening, but it's kind of bad," Miller said. "There's still so many deaths and we don't know why it's happening. So, it's going to be hard to repeat it unless we really research what's going on and find out exactly why these numbers are dropping."

Other states with the greatest dip in overdose deaths were Nebraska, Vermont, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

Miller said the drop is especially large on the East Coast.

"It's positive in that less people are dying," Miller said. "That said, there's still very high numbers. We're still talking about numbers of overdoses that are close to six figures."

Despite the preliminary data suggesting the trend is continuing, more work needs to be done for better addiction treatment and healthcare services, according to MacDonald.

"We're getting more calls for people that are struggling with methamphetamines. Many, most of the calls with alcohol," MacDonald said. "The challenges are that we have so many people that are struggling and so little resources. That's the biggest challenge of all, is trying to find the right place."