By Ana Goñi-Lessan | News Service of Florida
Florida’s drug overdose deaths continued to decline in 2025, according to state data released Wednesday.
Opioid-caused deaths fell by 42 percent from January 2025 to June 2025, and fentanyl-caused deaths fell 46 percent, according to the interim 2025 Drugs in Deceased Persons Report released by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission.
“That is a huge, huge success story, and everybody who’s been involved in that should be awfully proud to see those figures,” DeSantis said at an event in Titusville.
DeSantis credited law enforcement, including increased efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, for the drop of opioid-caused deaths in the state. But drug harm reduction advocates and researchers say shifts in the drug supply and changes in drug use are the major contributors to the decrease in deaths.
The number of fatal drug overdoses has dropped over the past three years across the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
About 70,000 Americans died from an overdose from December 2024 to December 2025, the lowest number since the fall of 2019 and a decline of about 14 percent from the prior year.
While 43 states saw decreases, the CDC data show seven states saw an uptick in deaths, notably Arizona with an 18% increase and New Mexico with a 22% increase.
Tim Santamour, executive director of the Florida Harm Reduction Collective, an organization that aims to prevent overdoses, said one of the reasons overdose deaths are declining is because the program participants he helps are switching from injecting to smoking fentanyl.
It’s an ongoing national trend that has recently caught on in Florida and gives the drug user more “control” over how much fentanyl someone takes, he said.
Santamour said he’s also seen an increase in the usage of fentanyl test strips and naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug.
In his press conference, DeSantis also highlighted how law enforcement equipped with naloxone has helped reduce drug overdose deaths.
Santamour said his organization mails out 400 kits of four doses of naloxone every month across Florida, and the demand hasn’t slowed down in four years.
Fentanyl test strips, which are decriminalized in Florida, have also helped residents avoid using substances tainted with fentanyl. But as recently as two weeks ago, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration updated its guidelines and said none of its funding can be used to purchase fentanyl test strips or any other substance test kits, including xylazine and medetomidine test strips.
The Florida Legislature also passed a bill this year that decriminalized xylazine test strips. It has not yet been sent to the governor’s desk for signature.
“We’re kind of worried that the progress that we’ve seen is going to go away because we can’t give people the tools we need,” Santamour said.
One of the biggest reasons for the drop in overdose deaths is the prevalence of xylazine and medetomidine replacing high doses of fentanyl in Florida’s drug supply, Santamour said.
Drug reagent testing shows medetomidine has been found across the state, from Pensacola to Miami, Santamour said.
Both xylazine and medetomidine are sedatives, but they do not depress the respiratory system the way fentanyl does and therefore don’t carry the same risk for overdose, said Claire Zagorski, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin who studies trends in the nation’s drug supply.
Dr. Bruce Goldberger, a professor of toxicology at the University of Florida, said the medetomidine is swapping out the xylazine supply in Florida, and comes with its own set of problems. Repeated use can lead to dependence, and withdrawal can be life threatening and require treatment in the hospital.
Zagorski said there is no compelling evidence that the downward shift in overdoses and changes in supply are because of law enforcement. Opioids have remained consistently available across the country, she added.
“There are still drugs everywhere, they are still easy to get. No one is complaining that the drug market is dying,” Santamour said.