Mississippi sees a decrease in drug overdose deaths

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – New statewide statistics show Mississippians saw fewer drug overdose deaths in 2023 than last year.

According to the Mississippi Prescription Monitoring Program, there was an 8.7% decrease in drug overdose deaths in the first three months of 2022 compared to 2023.

This decrease comes after years of record-high overdose deaths in the state — 586 total in 2020 and 788 total in 2021.

Col. Steven Maxwell with the MS Bureau of Narcotics says legislative changes that pushed for the access of the opioid-reversal drug Naloxone, also known as NARCAN, is a big part of why that’s happened.

“The availability of Naloxone is crucial. So, Naloxone has been made much more available to the public. In addition to that, not only has it been made much more available to the public, but first responders have become more and more educated about the use of Naloxone. And so being equipped with that life-saving drug, that opioid-reversal drug has also had a significant impact in decreasing the number of drug-related overdose deaths,” Maxwell said.

He also attributed more public conversations about the dangers of Fentanyl and its use inside other illegal drugs. He says his department spoke with 13,000 people ranging from elementary-age students to adults.

Looking into the rest of the year and into 2024, access to this life-changing drug is moving towards groups with the highest risk of overdose deaths.

“Particularly when we’re talking about college campuses, where drug-related overdose deaths have risen on the scale of causes of death for individuals in that college-age group. And so having that life-saving drug accessible to students, I think it’s critically important. They should have it in their purse. They should have it in their car because you don’t have to intentionally ingest a synthetic opioid. Like like Fentanyl,” Maxwell said.

The University of Mississippi and The University of Southern Mississippi both announced plans this month to have NARCAN available on their campuses to prevent accidental overdose deaths and Fentanyl overdoses.

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