Michigan opioid overdose deaths expected to drop for third straight year
Opioid overdose deaths in Michigan are projected to drop in 2024, marking the third consecutive year of decline, according to the state's attorney general's office.
Data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shows a 34% reduction in overdose deaths between 2023 and 2024, which is around 1,000 fewer deaths, state officials said. The death rate from 2022 to 2023 decreased by 5.7% from 2,998 to 2,826.
The state credits the three-year decline to investments in prevention, treatment, recovery and harm-reduction efforts, funded in part by national opioid settlements.
"Since 2019, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has helped secure more than $1.6 billion in settlements for Michigan governments from companies such as McKinsey & Co, Distributors Cardinal Health, McKesson, Inc., and AmerisourceBergen, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical, Allergan Pharmaceutical, CVS, Walmart and Walgreens," the attorney general's office said in a news release on Thursday.
In August 2024, the state projected it would see more than $1 billion from opioid settlement payments over the next 20 years or so.
The attorney's office says the majority of settlement funds are distributed equally between local governments and Michigan's Opioid Healing and Recovery Fund, which was created by lawmakers in 2022 to hold funds from opioid settlements.
Michigan's Opioids Task Force has distributed more than 1.3 million naloxone kits as a result of the funding, with nearly 34,000 of those kits used to reverse overdoses, the state says.
In April, local organizations in Livingston County were developing proposals on how to spend around $9 million in opioid settlement funds. Learn more about the organizations working on plans in the video player above.
Note: The above video first aired on April 7, 2025.
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