Ohio recorded 4,452 overdose deaths in 2023, reflecting a 9% decrease from the previous year, as outlined in the state’s latest report on unintentional drug overdoses.
This marks the second year in a row of declining overdose deaths in the state. In 2022, fatalities dropped by 5%, state leaders, including Governor Mike DeWine, shared during a press conference about the findings. Early data for 2024 hint at a continuing decline in unintentional overdose deaths.
Ohio’s overdose death rate has drawn close scrutiny due to the state’s high impact from the national opioid crisis. In 2016 and 2017, Ohio ranked second nationally for overdose deaths per 100,000 people. By 2023, Ohio’s rank had fallen to 12th, according to Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, Ohio’s Health Department Director.
“Comparing the first and second halves of 2023, we observed an increase in the rate of improvement,” Vanderhoff said. “Preliminary 2024 data are equally promising.”
Fentanyl remained a major factor in overdose fatalities in Ohio last year, involved in 78% of cases. While still high, this percentage is down slightly from 80-81% in the prior three years, the report indicates. Fentanyl is often mixed into other drugs, including cocaine, sometimes without users’ awareness; the report shows 79% of cocaine-related deaths involved fentanyl.
Governor DeWine noted that steps taken in prevention, treatment, and enforcement since he took office in 2019 have likely contributed to these encouraging results. To support prevention, the state provides naloxone, a life-saving opioid reversal medication, free of charge at naloxone.ohio.gov. In 2023 alone, 291,000 naloxone kits were distributed across the state, and officials estimate that 20,000 overdoses were reversed as a result.
“Previously, loved ones of overdose victims often lacked immediate access to help,” Vanderhoff said. “Free naloxone changes that, giving people a chance to survive and seek recovery.”
In 2023, Ohio had an average of 39 overdose deaths per 100,000 people. Black Ohioans continued to experience the highest overdose rates. Black non-Hispanic men had an overdose rate of 100.3 per 100,000, nearly double that of white non-Hispanic men, whose rate was 50.8 per 100,000. Black men’s rate dropped by 2% in 2023, while the rate for white non-Hispanic men fell by 10%.
For Black non-Hispanic women, the overdose death rate decreased 9% from the previous year, down to 33.1 per 100,000. Meanwhile, the rate for white non-Hispanic women dropped by 16% to 24.2 per 100,000. Although Hispanic Ohioans had lower rates of overdose deaths, their rates increased by 13% among men and 6% among women from 2022 to 2023.