Drug overdose deaths in 2022 remained at historically high levels following several years of sharp spikes, but they held steady compared with 2021, the Minnesota Department of Health reported Thursday.
The annual report on drug-related mortality found a slight 0.8% decrease in overdose deaths from 2021 (1,354) to 2022 (1,343), based on preliminary death certificate data. The decrease in deaths is more noticeable in greater Minnesota, with a 5% reduction in fatal overdoses from 2021 to 2022.
Opioid-involved overdose deaths increased by 3% — from 977 to 1,002 — and MDH said that fentanyl was involved in 62% of all fatal drug overdoses in 2022. The potent, synthetic opioid contributed to 92% of the 1,002 opioid-involved overdose deaths in Minnesota.
Minnesota Department of Health
However, fatal overdoses from heroin, methadone and prescribed opioids decreased, with deaths from heroin reaching a 10-year low after falling 56% — from 103 to 45 deaths.
Psychostimulants (methamphetamine) and cocaine also contributed to the number of drug overdose deaths. Cocaine-involved deaths saw the largest increase of any drug category, increasing 27% — from 165 to 210 deaths.
“We are responding to the more deadly threat of fentanyl with several new tools for saving lives that were passed by the Legislature in 2023, such as expanding the availability of naloxone, and covering the costs of having it on hand, in school buildings, treatment programs, and during emergency and law enforcement calls,” Minnesota Commissioner of Health Brooke Cunningham said in a statement accompanying the annual report.
Nonfatal drug overdoses treated in Minnesota’s hospitals last year also decreased year-over-year from 17,792 to 16,934.
“In 2022, for every one overdose death, there were nearly 13 nonfatal overdoses,” the report said. “A majority of nonfatal overdoses were treated in the emergency department (69%) and were of unintentional (i.e., accidental) or undetermined intent (65%).”
The data update comes just a few months after Gov. Tim Walz and the DFL-controlled Minnesota Legislature approved $200 million in funding to address substance use prevention, harm reduction and recovery.
Also this year, naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal medication known by the brand name Narcan, was approved for over-the-counter purchase. Certain facilities and professionals, including schools and law enforcement officers, are required to carry naloxone.
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