News

The Alaska Department of Health published their 2023 drug overdose mortality update. This is a data-heavy document that dives into overdose death rates with demographic and geographic breakdowns. As you all know, 2023 saw the highest rates of drug overdose with 357 deaths – a 47% increase over the 2022 total. This increase was driven primarily by fentanyl with a noteworthy contribution by methamphetamine. The Municipality of Anchorage saw the highest rates in the state and accounted for over three-quarters of the year-over-year increase. Our indigenous populations bore the highest burden of these deaths followed by black and mixed race populations. By age, decedents aged 25-54 were most commonly impacted.

You can find the update here as well. I hope this data is useful in guiding the activities of the Anchorage Community Opioid Response Network and your own personal work in this space.