LAS VEGAS ( KLAS ) — Overdose deaths increased in Nevada and four other states as national numbers declined, according to provisional data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC’s report relied on projections to compensate for incomplete data, but found an overall 14% decline in overdose deaths in the U.S. for the 12-month period that ended June 30, 2024. Nationwide, 97,000 people died of overdoses.
In Nevada, 1,499 deaths were reported, but the CDC’s projections put that number at 1,603 by the time data is complete. That would represent a 26.1% increase over the previous 12-month period. Only Alaska saw a larger percentage increase at 38.6%. Alaska, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Utah were the five states where the CDC projected increases. Overdose deaths declined in all other 45 states.
“This is a pretty stunning and rapid reversal of drug overdose mortality numbers,” Brandon Marshall, a Brown University researcher who studies overdose trends, told The Associated Press on Wednesday .