After years of horrible news about the overdose crisis, there’s finally something hopeful to report.

According to CDC data, the U.S. drug overdose death rate dropped about 26% from 2023 to 2024, with declines across every age group and racial group. Experts list a few reasons, but one that comes up a lot is the availability of naloxone, which is a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose if the person gets it at the right time.

Naloxone is basically prevention that is used in emergency situations. It doesn’t treat addiction, but it keeps people alive long enough so they have a chance to recover. Getting it into more hands and having better access to treatment seem to be saving a lot of lives, which is really encouraging.

The crisis is not over though, and a lot of experts warn we have made little progress. But it shows that when we actually come up with tools that work, the numbers can move in the right direction.