INDIANAPOLIS — The wrong drug can kill you in an instant, but it appears more Hoosiers are either avoiding lethal doses or being saved thanks to naloxone.
The National Center for Health Statistics, a service of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reports more than 2,000 Hoosiers have died from drug overdoses between April 2023 and April 2024. That's a notable decrease from its reporting two years ago, when it recorded nearly 2,800 drug overdose deaths between April 2021 and April 2022.
This April's report is the lowest number of year-to-date drug overdose deaths recorded since June 2020.
Justin Phillips distributes thousands of doses of naloxone across Indiana through her organization Overdose Lifeline. She believes the access to the antidote is a reason why fewer Hoosiers are dying from drugs.
Watch | CDC says overdose deaths across the state of Indiana are decreasing
"The friend, neighbor, or family member is the first responder often," Phillips said. "If we can save that time, then we're going to save lives."
Phillips lost her son, Aaron, to a heroin overdose in 2013 before she started Overdose Lifeline. Indiana lawmakers enacted "Aaron's Law" in 2015 to allow everyone to carry naloxone.
The state of Indiana partnered with Overdose Lifeline to purchase and distribute doses of naloxone starting in the summer of 2020.
Phillips hopes Hoosiers continue to advocate for drug treatment policies even while the number of drug overdoses continues to trend down.
"People still believe that it's a choice someone has, that it's a moral failing," Phillips said. "It does happen to those of us who don't believe it can happen to us."
Indiana's historical year-to-date count of drug overdose deaths from the National Center for Health Statistics are as follows:
- April 2015: 1,208 deaths
- April 2016: 1,285 deaths
- April 2017: 1,700 deaths
- April 2018: 1,716 deaths
- April 2019: 1,598 deaths
- April 2020: 1,878 deaths
- April 2021: 2,483 deaths
- April 2022: 2,792 deaths
- April 2023: 2,508 deaths
- April 2024: 2,056 deaths
