Opioid deaths declined 16% in state last year; first decrease in decade

Opioid overdose deaths declined in New York last year for the first time in a decade due in part to expanded addiction treatment services, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

New York's fatal opioid overdose toll declined to 1,824 deaths from 2,170 in 2017, a nearly 16% decrease, according to preliminary state Health Department data covering areas outside New York City.

"New York's first reduction in opioid overdose deaths in over ten years is an important milestone and demonstrates our work to combat this deadly scourge is working," Cuomo said.

"And while New York has taken the most aggressive actions to combat the opioid crisis of any other state in the country, the opioid epidemic continues to devastate too many families and we will not rest until we put an end to it once and for all," he added.

Health officials, including Office of Addiction Services and Supports Commissioner Arlene Gonz'lez-S'nchez, attributed the decline in deaths to programs launched by the state Heroin and Opioid Task Force, which Cuomo convened in 2016.

"Through the implementation of innovative programs, we have increased access to treatment; improved support for those in recovery; expanded awareness of heroin and opioid addiction; and enhanced statewide prevention efforts," Gonz'lez-S'nchez said.

In addition to fewer deaths, hospitalizations for opioid-related overdoses decreased 7%, from 3,260 in 2017 to 3,029 in 2018, the state data show.

Further, first responders and everyday citizens used naloxone, the overdose-reversing drug, about 17,500 times last year across New York in an urgent push to keep those gripped by opioid addiction alive, USA TODAY Network reported.

All of the data excluded New York City, which uses a separate system to record and track opioid-related statistics.

The latest New York opioid data comes as early statistics show drug overdose deaths nationally declined to 68,000 in 2018, the first major decline during an addiction epidemic that has claimed tens of thousands of people this decade.

"The latest provisional data on overdose deaths show that America's united efforts to curb opioid use disorder and addiction are working," Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a July statement.

"Lives are being saved, and we're beginning to win the fight against this crisis," Azar said.

While the drop in deaths nationally is encouraging, experts said the generational fight against opioid addiction remains a significant public health challenge.

"As there is more work to be done, we will continue taking aggressive actions to ensure that New Yorkers affected by this disease are protected." Gonz'lez-S'nchez said.

Some of New York's efforts to combat the opioid epidemic have included expanding access to treatment beds, adding new recovery centers and improving medication-assisted treatment regulations, according to the governor's office.

Since 2016, the state has added nearly 500 new treatment beds, and more than 1,800 opioid-treatment program slots.

Actions to increase medication-assisted treatment prescribing also have helped contribute to an increase of nearly 47% in the number of patients receiving buprenorphine prescriptions for opioid use disorders between 2012 and 2018.

The number of recovery centers statewide jumped to 32 from just three in 2016, with nearly 32,000 people making at least one visit to a recovery center in New York last year.

Some addiction treatment groups in New York struck a cautiously optimistic tone about the declining opioid deaths.

"It's encouraging that after years of bad news about opioids, New York is making progress, but significant resources and continued focus on fighting this crisis must be recommitted at the State and City levels to ensure success," said Anne-Marie Foster, president and CEO of Phoenix House in New York.

And other advocacy groups have criticized Cuomo for failing to sign a bill passed earlier this year, which they say seeks to remove barriers to medication-assisted treatment for low-income New Yorkers.

And Cuomo has faced criticism for not adding more state aid to the effort, which now exceeds $200 million a year.

Meanwhile, prescription opioid painkillers, long blamed as the root of the crisis, are fading as a cause of drug overdose deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 12,757 overdose deaths from prescription painkillers in 2018, down from 14,926 deaths in 2017.

Four other drug categories -- methampetamine and other stimulants, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl -- each caused more fatal overdoses last year than opioids such as oxycodone and Vicodin, the report said.

Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid often sold as a street drug, surpassed prescription opioids in 2015 as the most lethal overdose substance and now is linked to nearly three times as many deaths.

Nearly 32,000 overdose deaths last year involved fentanyl. In 2014, it was detected in fewer than 6,000 fatal overdoses.

As a result, authorities in New York have sought to crack down on the rise of fentanyl, as well as other synthetic opioids such as carfentanil, a drug 100 times more potent than fentanyl.

In an attempt to secure funds to combat addiction, New York state government and many communities statewide also are part of lawsuits accusing opioid makers, distributors and other companies of creating and fueling the historic addiction crisis underway.

The lawsuits claim many of the drug companies participated in a scheme to flood communities with highly addictive prescription painkillers.

Some companies are accused of intentionally ignoring the red flags of the burgeoning drug crisis to keep raking-in profits.

Communities in New York and across the country are seeking billions of dollars in legal penalties and damages as part of the lawsuits, including the high-profile case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Many of the lawsuits cite the rising death tolls nationally, including the data in New York tracked through the state's Opioid Quarterly Report.

The data is released regularly and subject to change due to lags in reporting. New York City Health Department tracks and reports citywide data separately.

New York also this year implemented a so-called opioid tax on drug companies after a similar tax was rejected last year.

David Robinson is the New York state health care reporter for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at drobinson@gannett.com or followed on Twitter: @DrobinsonLoHud

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