If you haven’t already heard, overdose deaths fell in 2023, marking the first decline in years. This is great news. But there is a lot more to it than the headlines (giving me “mission accomplished” vibes) have conveyed. I wrote about what this means and what we should do with this information here:

Opinion | Overdose Deaths Are Falling but the Mission Is Far From Accomplished

We still don't know what's driving the trend, and numbers remain unacceptably high

I can virtually guarantee all the activists and mutual aid groups using SM to warn about tainted supplies, handing out test strips, and doing narcan training and distribution contributed to this very very good news. (And yes, I’m aware you do touch on this in the piece.)

it seems the biden and harris branch of democracy is taking credit for this lil blip on the radar of blood, and vowing to continue their successful efforts in drug war. do you think this will go good?

Sadly this implies that most people have an attention span that lasts longer than pressing like on FB and deciding that cured all of the bad things in the world.