Drug overdose deaths nationwide are down 10% compared to last year, according to federal data. That’s a big drop in contrast to the skyrocketing overdose death rates seen over the past few years along with an increasing supply of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid.
According to state data, emergency responses to suspected opioid overdoses declined 20% in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2023. But the number of overdose deaths in Montana this year haven’t been released.
Why overdoses are falling nationally is a bit of a mystery.
Addiction experts say fentanyl supplies are dwindling in the eastern U.S. Keith Weis is with the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. He says he’s aware of those reports.
“We haven’t seen a diminished supply in the Rocky Mountain region,” said Weis.
Weis says the volume of fentanyl seizures in Montana may be the same as 2023, which was a record-breaking year. Fentanyl pill prices also remain low, at about $5, meaning there are plenty of those pills on the black market.
He says it’s too early to tell if supplies here will drop like in other parts of the country. But he says there may be signs that could happen. Federal investigators are finding some batches of fentanyl are weaker than in the past, which may mean traffickers are trying to stretch supplies.
