Signaling hope in the battle against opioids, Central Florida saw a nearly 7% drop in deadly drug overdoses between 2021 and 2023, part of a trend of declines seen throughout the U.S. after the frightening surges of the preceding decade.

Data presented by the local Project Opioid on Monday shows the decline in overdose deaths in Central Florida in that period — which the nonprofit calculated using data from Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties — outpaced those seen in Florida and nationwide, which saw decreases of 5.9% and 1.5%, respectively. The drops followed a record-breaking death count of more than 8,200 people statewide in 2021.

Of the three Central Florida counties considered by Project Opioid, Osceola was the only one to see an upward trend in overdose deaths since 2021, with a staggering 20.2% increase by 2023. Orange saw a 6.6% decrease in overdose deaths over that period, while Lake County, which was not included in Project Opioid’s calculation, saw a nearly 15% decrease, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control. Other CDC data suggest the trend accelerated in 2024.

Seminole had the steepest drop from 2021-2023 with 27.2% fewer deadly overdoses in the same period, credited in part to a years long emphasis by Sheriff Dennis Lemma on diverting substance users to get treatment while aggressively policing dealers. The strategy continues to show promise, said Andrae Bailey, founder of Project Opioid, who also credited the use of the life-saving opioid treatment naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan.

“We’re getting naloxone out in ways we haven’t before,” Bailey said. The nonprofit in 2024 reported distributing over 100,000 doses of naloxone while conducting scores of overdose reversal trainings across Central Florida. Seminole County’s death rate, Bailey added, “could have potentially been double what it was, but naloxone is out in the community and it’s working.”

Lemma said his deputies used naloxone in 99 instances last year, in which the county saw 427 overdoses but just 66 deaths, a 42% drop from 2023. However, he warned, there is more to be done.

“We are incredibly pleased with these numbers,” Lemma said. “We have embraced Project Opioid from the beginning and used the fundamental cornerstones of this philosophy to implement them properly in Seminole County. But the hard work lies ahead of us.”

Before the recent decline, skyrocketing overdose deaths were being driven by the use of fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic drug often added to other drugs, and other opioids. While they continue making up the cause of most deadly overdoses, their use appears to be receding, according to the CDC, which documented steepening declines into 2024.

Reported deaths between July 2023 and July 2024 indicate a 19.3% drop in overdose deaths nationally, the CDC found. All but three states have reported fewer deaths in the same time period, with Florida coming just below the national average with a 18.9% drop while West Virginia reported the largest decline in the country, with nearly 50% fewer deadly overdoses.

“I don’t want people to hear about the reductions and just take a victory lap and think our work is done,” Lemma said. “What we’ve seen here in Central Florida and across the state of Florida, is a shifting paradigm when it comes to substance use disorder.”

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