FILE - The overdose-reversal drug Narcan is displayed during training for employees of the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), Dec. 4, 2018, in Philadelphia. The death of a Connecticut seventh grader from an apparent fentanyl overdose has renewed calls for schools to carry the opioid antidote naloxone. The 13-year-old student in Hartford died Saturday after falling ill in school two days earlier. The school did not have naloxone, which is known by the brand name Narcan. But now city officials are vowing to put it in all schools. Fatal overdoses among young people in the U.S. have been increasing amid the opioid epidemic but remain relatively uncommon. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, file)
Katie Knol is WITF's summer newsroom intern for 2024. She was in the same role for summer 2023.
She graduated from Penn State University in 2024, earning bachelor's degrees in journalism and political science. She has also worked at WPSU, the News Lab at Penn State, The Daily Collegian and CommRadio.
FILE - The overdose-reversal drug Narcan is displayed during training for employees of the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), Dec. 4, 2018, in Philadelphia. The death of a Connecticut seventh grader from an apparent fentanyl overdose has renewed calls for schools to carry the opioid antidote naloxone. The 13-year-old student in Hartford died Saturday after falling ill in school two days earlier. The school did not have naloxone, which is known by the brand name Narcan. But now city officials are vowing to put it in all schools. Fatal overdoses among young people in the U.S. have been increasing amid the opioid epidemic but remain relatively uncommon. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, file)
FILE – The overdose-reversal drug Narcan is displayed during training for employees of the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), Dec. 4, 2018, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, file)
Correction: Jill London’s title was incorrect in the original version of this story.
Preliminary CDC data shows overdose deaths across the country and in Pennsylvania are declining — it predicted 5,248 deaths in 2023 and 4,764 in 2024, making for a decrease of 9.22%.
The CDC noted the data is provisional, but it still expects a drop when the final numbers are analyzed.
Dauphin County is just one Central PA region seeing a decrease in the rate of drug-related deaths. The county’s 2023 coroner report attributed 125 deaths to drug-related deaths, and there have been 18 accidental drug-related deaths in 2024 as of April. If that rate is maintained throughout the year, the county would have 54 deaths.
Jill London, the director of recovery services at the Hamilton Health Center in Harrisburg, said she has seen a relatively consistent number of patients, but people also feel more comfortable reaching out for help in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I truly believe prior to COVID that the stigma was so massive that no one’s identified, let alone admitted, that they needed help,” London said. “I think it’s just a realignment of the approach and how we look at addiction and how we look at substance use disorder, even down to the language. It’s easier to talk about when you talk about stigma reduction — being able to have someone comfortable to confide in you about what they’re doing and what they’re using allows us to better help them help themselves.”
And with numbers going down, the increase of support seems to be working.
London said a lot of financial help comes from the state.
“Pennsylvania has done a remarkable job of utilizing and earmarking funding for agencies like ours to really be boots-on-the-ground and help support those individuals who are struggling with any of their substance use needs,” she said.
Lancaster County is also seeing major decreases in the number of overdose deaths, according to county coroner data. Last year saw a total of 85 accidental drug overdose deaths, and 2024’s most recent data from February shows eight accidental overdose deaths. If that rate is maintained through the year, the county would have 48 deaths.
For Amy Sechrist, the communications coordinator and prevention specialist of the education and prevention organization Compass Mark, factors that have helped reduce deaths have been a “concerted effort” to get overdose-reversing drugs like Narcan into public hands and improving access to treatment options.
“It’s sort of this ‘no wrong door’ idea when someone needs treatment,” Sechrist said. “For instance, juvenile probation and adult probation in Lancaster have a social worker now who’s support clients, Lancaster County Prison has peer specialists going in who are people in long-term addiction recovery who are supporting people’s transitions when they leave prison, getting themselves services — so we’re doing better with linkages.”
But she said the decreasing death rates aren’t even among all demographics. For people of color, the rate of drug-related death is rising.
“The quality of health care is poorer for people who are Black, or Indigenous, Hispanic,” Sechrist said. “There are fewer providers, there’s higher poverty levels, so people aren’t able to be all that choosy about their health care. There is stigma in health care, so they’re not just getting quite the attention that other Americans are.”
But Sechrist says education and expanding the availability of resources is helping, so the solutions of increasing access and education need to be accessible along all demographic lines.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
