US drug overdose deaths drop 20% thanks to Trump's crackdown on narcoterrorism

A report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that drug overdose deaths fell by more than 20% last year, marking one of the largest declines in recent years.The study captures deaths recorded through August 2025 and suggests a significant turnaround in a health crisis that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives over the past decade.

Also, according to the federal agency's report, the states of Louisiana, Florida,Virginia, New York, Vermont and Wyoming, as well as the District of Columbia, recorded significant reductions of more than 30%.

However, the CDC noted that the data are provisional because some causes of death are still under investigation. The report's numbers speak of 69,172 reported overdose victims, compared to 72,836 expected for the cited period.

A president tough on drug trafficking

Joseph Giacalone, a retired New York State Police (NYPD) sergeant and associate professor of criminal justice at Penn State Lehigh Valley, told Fox News, "The fall begins at the end of the Biden administration, but the question is, was it in anticipation of a tough-on-crime president coming in?", referring to the impending inauguration of Donald Trump in the White House.

According to data from the federal agency cited by Fox, overdose deaths were on the rise at the start of the first Trump administration but then remained virtually flat; they later rebounded and stabilized when the president Joe Biden took office.

Border security as a key factor

While the CDC has given no reason to explain this significant decline in overdose deaths nationally, it also coincides with the tightening of border control measures imposed by the Trump Administration. "Securing the borders has a lot to do with the drop," Giacalone added. "Less chance for drug dealers and their mules to bring drugs into the country."

The United States has also stepped up its "war on drugs" through "Operation Southern Spear," a military campaign against suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

President Donald Trump recently highlighted the effectiveness of U.S. operations against vessels used to traffic drugs from Venezuela, claiming that each boat intercepted "saves 25,000 American lives." Naval actions, he said, have reduced the amount of drugs entering the country by sea by 92%.

These attacks are part of the counternarcotics campaign launched by Washington in September, during which the United States has carried out more than 25 similar operations, which have left more than a 100 dead, according to official figures.

Critical states

According to the CDC report, there are only four states that recorded an increase in overdose deaths, with North Dakota the only one that remained unchanged. Kansas and Hawaii showed increases of less than 2%, while in New Mexico the increase was around 3.5 %. 

The most notable case was Arizona, which recorded a significant increase of 17.75 % in fatal overdoses between August 2024 and August 2025. The number of deaths reported in the state in August 2025 rose to 2,873, a considerable increase compared with the 2,479 recorded in the same month of the previous year.