Section

The Crisis, By the Numbers

Overdose data, SUD prevalence, CDC/NCHS updates, geographic trends.

Minnesota's Opioid Deaths Fell Again. The Stimulant Deaths Don't Have an Antidote Waiting.

Third straight year of falling opioid deaths, and a rising meth and cocaine curve that naloxone cannot touch.

Minnesota's 2025 data shows opioid deaths falling for a third year while stimulant overdoses climb. Naloxone does nothing for meth or cocaine. Here is what does.

Nov 32 minRead

More in The Crisis, By the Numbers

78 total in this section

02The Crisis, By the NumbersOct 31

HHS Says Opioid Deaths Are at a Decade Low. The Number It Led With Isn't an Opioid Number.

HHS says opioid deaths are at their lowest in nearly a decade, but the headline figure is an all-cause death rate. Minnesota's new data shows where the deaths are moving.

03The Crisis, By the NumbersOct 29

The Overdose Decline Has a Hole in It, and Meth Is Standing in It

Minnesota's 2025 overdose deaths rose 3% while opioid deaths held flat and stimulant deaths climbed. Kentucky's meth deaths fell and meth still became the most common drug found. What providers and people who use can do this week.

04The Crisis, By the NumbersOct 25

Overdose Deaths Nearly Halved, and We Still Can't Count the People Who Know Why

A STAT op-ed by three overdose researchers argues the national drug survey misses people experiencing homelessness and incarceration and says almost nothing about drug prices or contents.

05The Crisis, By the Numbers

Earlier in The Crisis, By the Numbers

Every piece in this section, most recent first.

The Crisis, By the Numbers

Minnesota's Opioid Deaths Fell Again. The Stimulant Deaths Don't Have an Antidote Waiting.

More in The Crisis, By the Numbers

HHS Says Opioid Deaths Are at a Decade Low. The Number It Led With Isn't an Opioid Number.

The Overdose Decline Has a Hole in It, and Meth Is Standing in It

Overdose Deaths Nearly Halved, and We Still Can't Count the People Who Know Why

Nobody Can Say Why You Stopped Dying. Until They Can, Don't Bet on It Lasting.

Overdose Deaths Fell 12.3%. The Numbers Came From the Same Office That Wants Credit.

HHS Is Claiming the Overdose Decline. Arizona, Where Deaths Rose, Isn't Invited to the Victory Lap.

Earlier in The Crisis, By the Numbers

Nobody Can Tell You Why Overdose Deaths Fell, So Don't Cut Anything That Might Be the Reason

Georgia Followed 130,267 Babies' Fathers for Five Years. Ninety-Three Died of Overdoses and Nobody Was Counting.

Massachusetts Opioid Deaths Fell Below 1,000. The People Doing the Work Say the Win Has a Hole in It.

Four Million Fewer Americans Have Alcohol Use Disorder Than in 2021. Don't Thank the Mocktails.

Overdose Deaths Are Plunging. Washington Just Defunded the Reason Why.

The Drug Replacing Xylazine in the Supply Doesn't Answer to Naloxone

Ohio Already Survived One Carfentanil Wave. The White House Just Warned the Whole Country a Second One Is Here.

The Overdose Toolkit We Built Doesn't Cover the Drugs Now Filling the Gap

CDC Finds Cannabis in 1 of Every 5 Overdose Deaths — and Says the Real Story Is What It's Riding With

Meth and Cocaine Now Kill More Americans Than Opioids. Medicine Still Has Nothing to Offer.

Cocaine Didn't Get More Dangerous. Everything Mixed Into It Did.

Twelve People Bought Cocaine in Luzerne County This Summer. It Was Fentanyl.

Overdose Deaths Are Falling Fast, and It Wasn't the Crackdown That Did It

Overdose Deaths Fell 12.3%. The Government Is Cutting the Thing That Probably Did It.

The Country's Overdose Deaths Are Falling. Arizona's Are Climbing — and Washington Just Cut the One Thing Proven to Help.

Overdose Deaths Are Down 12%. That Is Not the Same As Fixed.

The CDC's New Overdose Dashboard Confirms the Decline Is Real. It Also Confirms It's Slowing.

Cocaine Isn't Killing People Anymore. Fentanyl Riding Inside It Is

Overdose Deaths Are Falling Fast — Because the Supply Broke, Not Because We Fixed Anything

The Overdose Numbers Are Dropping. Believe the Drug Supply Got More Dangerous Anyway

Every Time a State Schedules One Sedative, the Drug Supply Finds Another. Medetomidine Is What's Next.

A Flavored Canister Is Killing More People Every Year, and the Law Is Only Now Catching Up

The Overdose Numbers Are Finally Falling. Washington Just Defunded the Reason Why.

The FDA Approved Four More Nicotine Pouches This Week. Teen Use Already Nearly Quadrupled Without Them.

SAMHSA Released Its Addiction Survey Earlier Than Ever. The Number That Matters Isn't the Headline One.

One in Four Bags of Cocaine Now Carries Fentanyl. There's Still No Medicine for What's Underneath It.

In Phoenix, July Doesn't Just Feel Deadlier for Meth Use. The Numbers Say It Actually Is.

More Americans Now Smoke Weed Every Day Than Drink Every Day. That's Not the Same as a Win.

A Cocaine Batch Laced With Fentanyl Just Killed Someone on the Wisconsin-Michigan Border. It Won't Stay There.

Alcohol Sales Keep Sliding. Stop Reading That as a Recovery Win.

Cocaine Production Just Hit a Record High. It's Not Coming Alone Anymore.

Cocaine Just Passed Fentanyl as Cuyahoga County's Top Overdose Killer. That's Not the Relief It Sounds Like.

The Government Is Taking a Victory Lap on Fentanyl. A Drug Naloxone Can't Touch Just Reached Utah.

The DEA Is Throwing a Party for Beating Fentanyl. The Chemists Already Moved On.

Cocaine Is Cheaper and Purer Than It's Been in Decades. That's the Bad News.

Half of 8th Graders Don't Think Trying Fentanyl Once Is Dangerous. That's Not a Knowledge Gap, It's a Body Count

The DEA Just Scheduled a New Synthetic Opioid Your Fentanyl Test Strip Can't See

Cocaine Killed More People Than Ever Last Year. There Still Isn't a Pill for It.

Naloxone Doesn't Touch It: A Veterinary Sedative Is Quietly Taking Over Where Xylazine Left Off

Naloxone Can't Touch Medetomidine — and Federal Guidance Just Defunded the Strips That Would Warn You

The Country Is Winning the Overdose Fight. Arizona Is Losing It — and July Is When That Gets Worse.

The Border Fight Is a Distraction From the Real Fentanyl Story

Overdose Deaths Fell 26% in One Year. Researchers Say the Reason Isn't What the Headlines Claim.

America Is Celebrating a 13% Drop in Overdoses. The UN Just Counted 331 Million People Using Drugs Worldwide.

38% Fewer Overdose Deaths Than the Peak. The System That Caused Them Hasn't Changed.

The Overdose Numbers Fell 13%. Don't Mistake the Decline for Victory.

Carfentanil Is Back in the Drug Supply. More Than 1 in 10 Fentanyl Samples Now Test Positive.

FDA Gave ZYN Twenty Flavors in January. Teen Nicotine Addiction Is Getting Worse.

The Decline That Isn't Reaching Everyone

The Shape-Shifter: How Nitazenes Became America's Next Synthetic Opioid Wave

The Drug That Kills Kids Without Warning, and Why Almost Nobody Covers It

The Fourth Wave Breaks — and Tells Us Exactly Who Was Left Behind

The Numbers Are Good. The Explanation Is Contested.