Much of the country continues to see big declines in drug overdose deaths, but deaths in Montana were virtually unchanged.
Between July 2023 and 2024, the number of overdose deaths nationwide fell nearly 20%. That’s according to preliminary data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
North Carolina’s deaths were nearly cut in half. Many states saw decreases between 10 and nearly 30%. But Montana’s death rate fell by half a percentage point.
It’s unclear why death rates from drugs like fentanyl are falling so fast in parts of the country but are steady in Montana.Public health experts are debating whether it’s more access to treatment, disruptions to Mexican cartels’ chemical supplies from China or several other factors.
While Montana’s death rate didn’t change much in the latest round of federal data, it has been slowly trending downward since its peak in 2022.
