What’s behind the drop in US overdose deaths?

Increased use of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone may not be a major reason opioid overdose deaths have fallen sharply across the US since 2023, according to a study that challenges a leading explanation for the decline.

“There are big questions about why opioid overdose mortality rates are falling nationally since 2023,” says study coauthor Michael Barnett, a researcher at the Brown University School of Public Health and a physician...