ALBANY, N.Y. (September 24, 2024) – The latest edition of the State Department of Health's New York Public Health Now podcast takes a closer look at some promising data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on fatal drug overdoses. The CDC's provisional data is showing declines in overdose deaths, including by synthetic opioids (especially fentanyl) to levels not seen since July 2021 in New York State (outside of New York City) and November 2022 in New York City.

"What we're seeing from the CDC's provisional data is a pattern of decline in drug overdoses in New York State, which is the topic of conversation for the latest edition of New York Public Health Now," State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald. "I'm pleased to be joined for this episode by two of our Department's top experts in drug prevention and harm reduction to take a look at this new trend, what may be influencing it, and what's next for New York State."

Episode two of season three, "Downward Trend in Fatal Overdoses," hosted by State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald and Executive Deputy Commissioner Johanne Morne, dropped today.

Senior Policy Advisor Dr. David Holtgrave and Director of the Office of Drug User Health Allan Clear joined the episode to examine the changes seen in the data and to explore what this means in New York State.

Senior Policy Advisor to the Commissioner of Health Dr. David Holtgrave said, "The new data appear to confirm a real downward trend in fatal drug poisonings in New York and the nation; this allows us to now have a very welcome new conversation about the exact causes of the declines and the best ways forward to maintain and even accelerate these life-saving decreases."

Director of the Office of Drug User Health, AIDS Institute, Allan Clear said," Getting on top of the problems caused by the illicit drug supply has been a barrier to bringing the number of overdose deaths down in New York State. Working with people who use drugs, our community of harm reduction providers and local government, we may be finally seeing the dividends of our approach to the problem. That said, any death from overdose is too many."

The discussion explores potential causes behind the declines, including the expansion of naloxone distribution, increases in drug checking programs, and the availability of drug user health hubs where individuals can access medical and social services.

Dr. Holtgrave previously joined Commissioner McDonald and Executive Deputy Commissioner Morne on the podcast to discuss his new role as Senior Policy Advisor to the Commissioner following a 35-year career in areas of drug prevention, control and substance use policy, including serving in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy from 2022-2024.

New York public health Now is a conversational bi-weekly podcast featuring a rotating roster of front-line public health specialists discussing timely and important health topics and the good work happening at the State Department of Health.

All recordings are available on the DOH website  here, where they can also be downloaded by clicking on the up arrow in the lower right corner of each episode. The podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and many other listening platforms.

Whatsapp