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The Department of Health and Human Services released a report this week that should make Americans sit up. Opioid-related deaths have fallen to their lowest level in nearly a decade, and the numbers point to one simple fact: policy choices matter. If you want fewer overdoses, stop making it easy for drugs to pour into the country, stop overprescribing pills, and give people real paths to recovery.
HHS report: opioid deaths fall to lowest in nearly a decade
The HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation examined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s provisional finding that the overall age-adjusted death rate declined to 689.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2025. HHS says opioid-related deaths have fallen to the lowest rate since the public health emergency declared in 2017. That’s not spin; it’s a straight reading of the numbers the agencies themselves are using.
The numbers that matter
The report also looked at pharmacy dispensing from March 2015 through March 2026. Opioid prescriptions dispensed fell to just 45.3% of their 2015 level. The number of patients getting prescription opioids through retail pharmacies fell to 49.6% of the baseline. Those are big drops. They show fewer pills on the street and fewer chances for addiction to start with a prescription pad.
What worked: border enforcement, supply disruption, and treatment
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rightly credited a multi-pronged strategy: rightsizing opioid prescribing, disrupting the fentanyl supply chain, and expanding treatment and recovery. The report makes clear the pieces fit together. When the border is harder to cross and fentanyl smuggling networks are under real pressure, the supply dries up. When doctors cut back on unnecessary prescriptions and treatment resources grow, demand and harm go down. That combination of enforcement and care is what moves the needle.
Don’t celebrate and sit back — keep the pressure on
Make no mistake: this progress is worth celebrating. But it’s also fragile. The left will want to take credit while softening enforcement and returning to business as usual. Republicans should take the win and keep doing what’s working: secure the border, choke off the fentanyl pipeline, hold prescribers accountable, and expand proven treatment and recovery programs under the Great American Recovery effort. Numbers don’t lie, and right now the numbers show that tough policies paired with real help save lives.
