Change! U.S. Sees First Sustained Drop in Fentanyl-Linked Overdose Deaths in Years

One reason, as explained by Sec. of War Pete Hegseth, is that “NO ONE wants to get into a narco boat” after U.S. military’s successful hits. - Leslie Eastman

“Overall I think this continues to be encouraging, especially since we’re seeing declines almost across the nation,” he said.
Overdose deaths began steadily climbing in the 1990s with overdoses involving opioid painkillers, followed by waves of deaths from heroin and — more recently — illicit fentanyl. 

Deaths peaked nearly 110,000 in 2022, fell a little in 2023 and then plummeted 27% in 2024, to around 80,000. 

That was the largest one-year decline ever recorded.

The legacy media won't show this:
> 2023 all-time highs in border encounters, illegal immigration, and fentanyl deaths
> 2025 lowest numbers in decades and still plummeting
Keep in mind not a single law changed
Trump just started enforcing the ones we already have, which had… https://t.co/3fPQ03txw6 pic.twitter.com/XJ9bThKb7X - — Arthur MacWaters (@ArthurMacwaters) January 16, 2026