Fentanyl deaths among the young are dropping. Can the trend continue?

Fentanyl and other street drugs killed more than 230,000 people under the age of 35 in the U.S. over the last decade. But now new federal data shows drug deaths among young people are plummeting at an unprecedented rate – saving thousands of lives each year. What's driving the drop, and with federal funding cuts on the horizon, will it continue?For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

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Jun 10, 2025 - 17:15
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Fentanyl deaths among the young are dropping. Can the trend continue?
Justin Carlyle, age 23, photographed on the street in Kensington, a neighborhood of Philadelphia, has lived with addiction to fentanyl and other drugs for a decade. After a decade when overdoses devastated young Americans, drug deaths among people in the U.S. under age 35 are plummeting. The shift is saving thousands of young lives every year.

Fentanyl and other street drugs killed more than 230,000 people under the age of 35 in the U.S. over the last decade.

But now new federal data shows drug deaths among young people are plummeting at an unprecedented rate – saving thousands of lives each year.

What's driving the drop, and with federal funding cuts on the horizon, will it continue?

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

(Image credit: Rachel Wisniewski)

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