Opioid Overdose Deaths In New York Down For First Time Since 2009

Opioid deaths among New York state residents outside of New York City fell by nearly 16 percent in 2018 compared to 2017, the first decease in a decade.

Those numbers were released today by the Governor’s office.

While close to 2,000 people died from Opioid overdoses last year, Governor Andrew Cuomo says the decrease remains a significant milestone.

Cuomo says the decrease is the result of several aggressive actions taken over the past several years to combat opioid addiction.

Those actions are outlined in the new Heroin and Opioid Task Force Progress Report detailing three years of work and improvements to expand and enhance services aimed at combatting the opioid crisis.

"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."