Oregon Overdose Deaths Dropped in 2024 Alongside a National Decline of Nearly 30,000

The CDC National Center for Health Statistics released the provisional annual statistics for drug overdose deaths in the US on Wednesday. In Oregon, 1,449 overdose deaths were recorded in 2024.

While this is an increase from the 515 people who died of drug overdoses in 2015, it is a significant drop from the spike in annual overdose deaths to over 1,900 between October 2023 and May 2024.

Nationwide, the number of overdose deaths reported to the CDC in 2015 of over 48,000 increased to about 75,500 by the end of last year, but this represented a significant drop from the 114,500 overdose deaths in July 2023. The decline experienced in Oregon echoes the national decline.

The provisional counts reflect the jurisdiction in which the death occurred. They may differ slightly from the final data as the final data reflects only residents of the United States. In contrast, the provisional data includes all deaths, including those of foreign residents. The CDC indicated that provisional counts include approximately 400-500 additional drug overdose death records where the decedents were not US residents.

Drug overdose deaths are identified and recorded using underlying cause-of-death codes involving specific drug categories, which include heroin, natural opioid analgesics like morphine and codeine, semisynthetic opioids like oxycodone, and methadone, a synthetic opioid, amongst others. Drug overdose deaths may involve multiple drugs, in which case a single death could be included in more than one category when classifying the cause of death.

The Trump administration laid out its 2025 drug policy priorities, but uncertainties have arisen around the budget. Oregon Joined Lawsuit Against RFK Jr. To Halt Health And Human Services mass firings would slash the department’s workforce from 85,000 to 65,000, and the Oregon AG recently joined a 23-AG coalition lawsuit against RFK Jr. over $12 billion in health grant cuts.