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Fatal opioid deaths fall in 2024 but disparities persist, DC roundtable finds
Summary
At a May 7 Committee on Health roundtable, city and community officials said fatal opioid overdoses declined in 2024 but that nonfatal overdoses, the changing drug supply and racial and age disparities remain urgent challenges.
At a public roundtable Wednesday, Councilmember Christina Henderson, chair of the Committee on Health, reported a significant decline in fatal opioid overdoses in the District of Columbia while warning that major problems remain.
"Since 2018, the district has been grappling with an opioid crisis that has tragically claimed the lives of 2,660 residents," Henderson said, and she noted that city data show a 34 percent drop in fatal overdoses in 2024 compared with 2023. She added: "this positive trend has so far continued into 2025."
Why this matters: the decline in deaths is the most immediately visible metric of progress, but city officials and providers told the Committee that the crisis persists in other measures and in particular…
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