By Staff Report
Florida’s drug overdose deaths continued to decline in 2025, according to state data released Wednesday.
Opioid-caused deaths fell 42 percent from January through June, while fentanyl-related deaths dropped 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,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said during an event in Titusville.
DeSantis credited law enforcement efforts, including increased immigration enforcement, for the decline in opioid deaths. But harm-reduction advocates and researchers pointed instead to changes in the illegal drug supply and shifts in how drugs are being used.
Overdose deaths have declined nationwide during the past three years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 70,000 Americans died from overdoses between December 2024 and December 2025, the lowest total since 2019 and a decline of roughly 14 percent from the previous year.
While 43 states saw decreases, CDC data showed increases in seven states, including Arizona, which saw an 18 percent increase, and New Mexico, which rose 22 percent.
Tim Santamour, executive director of the Florida Harm Reduction Collective, said many users are shifting from injecting fentanyl to smoking it, giving them more control over dosage levels.
“It’s an ongoing national trend that has recently caught on in Florida,” Santamour said.
He also pointed to increased use of fentanyl test strips and naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, as major factors in reducing deaths.
During his remarks Wednesday, DeSantis highlighted how law enforcement officers carrying naloxone have helped lower overdose deaths.
Santamour said his organization distributes about 400 naloxone kits each month across Florida and demand has remained steady for years.
Fentanyl test strips, which are legal in Florida, have also helped people avoid substances laced with fentanyl. However, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recently updated its guidelines to prohibit federal funding from being used to purchase fentanyl, xylazine or medetomidine test strips.
The Florida Legislature this year passed a bill decriminalizing xylazine test strips, though it has not yet been sent to DeSantis for approval.
“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.
Santamour and researchers also pointed to changes in the illegal drug supply itself, including the growing presence of xylazine and medetomidine replacing higher doses of fentanyl.
Drug testing has identified medetomidine in substances across Florida, from Pensacola to Miami, Santamour said.
Both xylazine and medetomidine are sedatives, but they do not suppress breathing the same way fentanyl does, reducing the risk of overdose, according to Claire Zagorski, a University of Texas researcher who studies drug trends.
Dr. Bruce Goldberger, a toxicology professor at the University of Florida, said medetomidine appears to be replacing xylazine in Florida’s drug supply but carries its own dangers, including dependence and severe withdrawal symptoms requiring hospitalization.
Zagorski said there is little evidence linking the drop in overdose deaths directly to law enforcement crackdowns, noting opioids remain widely available nationwide.
“There are still drugs everywhere, they are still easy to get. No one is complaining that the drug market is dying,” Santamour said.
AMBER PATINO 
Ali Moreland 