Maryland saw about a 25% decrease in fatal drug overdoses in 2025, when more than 1,300 people died from overdosing, according to data released by the Maryland Department of Health Thursday.

It’s the second year in a row the state has seen a significant drop in drug deaths. Since 2023, the number has decreased by nearly half, according to the state’s overdose dashboard. A similar drop has been recorded for Baltimore, which has had the worst overdose crisis of any major American city.

The new numbers are preliminary counts, and will likely rise as the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner finalizes death investigations.

“It’s very clear it’s not just luck — this is actual progress being made,” Maryland’s Special Secretary of Overdose Response Emily Keller recently told The Banner.

It’s hard to point to just one cause behind the drop, Keller said. She credited collaborative efforts between state and local agencies and community organizations to tackle the crisis, including the widespread distribution of naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses.

Over the past decade, community programs and government agencies have given out increasing amounts of naloxone across the state, according the state health department. There was a notable spike in naloxone distribution last summer, coinciding with mass overdoses in Baltimore’s Penn North neighborhood that hospitalized dozens of people, but resulted in no deaths.

The city of Baltimore saw more than 560 overdose deaths last year, compared to more than 1,000 three years ago, according to state data.

“Even in the face of falling deaths due to overdose, we still have a long way to go,” said Baltimore Health Commissioner Michelle Taylor in a recent interview, adding “even one death is one too many.”

In addition to widespread access to naloxone, Taylor pointed to federal efforts to interrupt the flow of of fentanyl into the country as a likely cause of the falling death rate.

Nationwide, overdose deaths been on the decline since late 2023, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The drop coincides with an apparent disruption in the illicit fentanyl supply, according to a study published this month in the journal Science. Researchers, including from the University of Maryland, found the disruption was likely linked to restrictions by the Chinese government on chemical compounds used to manufacture the potent opioid.