Oregon overdose deaths

By MIA MALDANADO/Oregon Capital Chronicle Overdose deaths in Oregon went down 22% in 2024, the Oregon Health Authority announced Friday. The decrease in overdose deaths follows a nationwide trend of declining overdose deaths. In 2024, there were about 80,400 drug overdose deaths in the country — 26.9% fewer than the 110,000 overdose deaths in 2023, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

By LYNNE TERRY/Oregon Capital Chronicle As lawmakers prepare to tackle the state’s addiction crisis, new data from the Oregon Health Authority shows how dire the addiction crisis has become. In 2019, 280 people died of a drug overdose in Oregon. Fatalities rose every year after, more than tripling by 2022, when 956 died. And last year, even more people died,