For the first time in four years, the Centers for Disease Control reported a decline in drug overdoses deaths across the country. From October 2023 to September 2024, close to 25% fewer people died than in previous years. The federal push to fund programs that widely distribute Naloxone, the opioid reversal medication, is largely credited for those falling numbers.
Kootenai County Fire and Rescue is in charge of distribution for the state. In the last seven months, Ken Bookamer, who takes care of logistics, has shipped roughly 26,000 kits to organizations and individuals across Idaho.
The $1.3 million program is funded through a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services. Under the Trump administration’s proposed Health budget, it could be eliminated.
“There probably will be alternatives,” Bookamer said, “but it wouldn't be at the state level like it is now. It would be more like the local and district levels.”
Ahead of the summer festival season, Bookamer says he’s seen an increase in demand from organizations.
“The fact that it's being used and being distributed and the fact that the overdose rates are going down, you kind of have to draw a parallel there,” Bookamer added
“I personally believe it would be very unfortunate to see the program go away.”
Drug overdoses in the U.S. have been steadily increasing for the last two decades, with deaths more than doubling since 2015. The latest numbers reported by the CDC at the beginning of the year represent an unprecedented and sharp decrease, counted in thousands of lives saved.
“Provisional data shows about 87,000 drug overdose deaths from October 2023 to September 2024, down from around 114,000 the previous year. This is the fewest overdose deaths in any 12-month period since June 2020,” the Centers’ report says.
Experts do not know exactly what has caused such a clear decline, but public awareness of Narcan and its broad availability appear to have played a role.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reports 264 people died of opioid overdoses in 2023. About half those deaths involved fentanyl.
State numbers for 2024 have not been released yet.
When experiencing an opioid overdose, brain receptors are flooded by the drug. This can cause severe respiratory depression and lead to death. Naloxone reverses the effects of opioids by temporarily blocking the drugs from those receptors, allowing time for further medical intervention. The kits distributed by the state come in the form of a nasal spray and do not need medical training to be administered.
