A preliminary report from the University of Missouri St. Louis, with data provided by the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services, shows a 26% decrease in drug overdose deaths last year.
They found 629 deaths occurred between January and June 2025, down from 850 deaths during the same period in 2024 and 1048 in 2023.
In Southwest Missouri, overdose deaths were down 53%. According to the report, most overdose deaths in the state continue to involve fentanyl. The decline is part of a nationwide trend.
Derrick Wilson is Overdose Prevention Coordinator at APO Community Health in Springfield. Wilson sees the lives represented by the report's statistics.
“For that parent or that friend, or that stranger you're caring for that you see, once in a while down at the coffee shop, that means the world,” Wilson said. “It means the world to that person going through substance use. It means the world to the people who have to assist them in whatever way. And it certainly does mean the world to me and all the advocates and champions out here, trying to just help folks stay alive until they can get to treatment and get their life back on track.”
Wilson credits the decline to increased access to treatment, education and an effort over the last few years to make the drug naloxone as available as possible.
“Most folks know naloxone by the name brand Narcan,” Wilson explained. “That's the medication, that you can use to reverse overdoses. The fact that naloxone is available and has been distributed in every county, I think brings the awareness, brings possibility for education, and it certainly brings the incredibly critical tool of naloxone to the public.”
Wilson said he’d rather hear that someone has used their naloxone saving someone and needs more, then have to hear that someone has died from an overdose.
Wilson says naloxone is available in vending devices for free at APO locations in Springfield on S. Glenstone and just off Park Central Square. Find more information at apo-ozarks.org or call 417-881-1900.