Dallas County Opioid Overdose Deaths Still High Despite State Progress

A report released this month by the Centers for Disease Control found that 2023 marked progress in the United States’ fight against opioid addiction and overdoses. Drug overdoses  — a major contributor to unintentional injuries, the third leading cause of death in the U.S.  — declined by 4% in 2023 from the year prior for a 31.3 overdoses per 100,000 people rate.

In Texas, that number reached 18 overdose deaths per 100,000 people. More recent data, though incomplete, suggests Texas’ positive trendline may have continued well into 2024. The CDC’s predicted data spanning a 12-month period from September 2023 to September 2024 anticipates an 11.45% drop in all drug overdose deaths across the state.

Texas was one of only nine states to sit at the CDC report’s lowest measure, between nine and 21.9 overdose deaths per capita. Eight states and Washington D.C. were labeled the most at-risk, reporting between 43 and 89.9 deaths per capita.

The report found an overall decrease in overdose deaths related to any opioid and synthetic opioids — excluding fentanyl-related deaths, that is. In Dallas County, fentanyl has now become a leader in drug overdoses, accounting for 79.8% of all opioid overdoses in 2023.

“We are increasing at a faster rate than Texas at this point,” Cindy Ledat of the Recovery Resource Council told the Observer last year. “In the past couple of years, we've been behind Texas, but [in 2023] we actually surpassed Texas in terms of our rate of fentanyl-related deaths. And for our region, it's really difficult to attribute that to one specific cause.”  

Along with the Recover Resource Council, Dallas County Health and Human Services released a report last year that found Dallas County’s drug overdose data is not as promising as that recorded statewide by the CDC. A lack of accessibility to healthcare and addiction care, economic pressures and lingering mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could be contributing to the regional crisis, investigators said.

The CDC report did track a worrying rise in overdose deaths in cases where cocaine was found to be the culprit. In Texas, cocaine-related overdose deaths were the only substance to see a significant increase in 2023 when compared to the year prior.

Cocaine can easily be mixed with fentanyl, and although the dangerous drug is easy to identify through proper testing methods, Texas is one of only five states to outlaw fentanyl testing strips.

Lawmakers have pushed to legalize the strips, and several state legislators have filed bills that could cross the Governor’s desk this legislative session. To his own credit, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the testing strips despite past opposition, stating he now has a “better understanding” of the measures that need to be implemented to continue Texas’ fight against the opioid epidemic.

“There’s going to be a movement across the state to make sure we do everything that we can to protect people from dying from fentanyl, and I think test strips will be one of those ways,” Abbott said.