Visits to emergency rooms for drug overdoses have trended down recently, but remain a bigger problem in some states, especially in the South.
There was a rate of around 128 nonfatal drug overdoses per 100,000 people treated at emergency departments of hospitals in 2023, down from 131 in 2022 and 122 five years ago in 2018, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention among participating states.
Only 23 participating states had reported data in 2023, but the CDC data has covered up to 25 states going back to 2018.
The new data comes as the U.S. grapples with addiction that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in recent years, including from deadly opioids such as fentanyl, heroin and pharmaceutical painkillers.
The falling rate of nonfatal drug overdoses suggest that the U.S. may be getting a handle on the issue: Early data from the CDC shows that there was a 3% decrease in all overdose deaths in 2023 from 2022.
The CDC didn't break out the drugs involved in the nonfatal overdoses, but opioids were involved in nearly 82% of fatal drug overdoses in 2022.
Which states had the highest rates of drug overdoses?
Louisiana had the highest rate by far: Around 263 nonfatal drug overdoses per 100,000 people, which is down from around 273 in 2023 and 278 in 2021.
Still, Louisiana's rate of drug overdoses remain elevated from around 230 per 100,000 people in 2019, which was its lowest year on record going back to 2018.
Louisiana is followed by Kentucky with 189 nonfatal drug overdoses per 100,000 people, Oregon with 184, Indiana with 179, North Carolina with 177 and South Carolina with 172.
By region, six states in the South were among the top 10 with the highest rate of nonfatal drug overdoses, two in the West, one in the Midwest and one in the Northeast.