Fatal overdoses across Philadelphia have dropped in recent years, however, stimulant-involved deaths — caused by fentanyl and xylazine — are on the rise, according to newly released city data.
The Philadelphia Health Department released four reports that describe substance use and overdoses in Philadelphia from 2022 to 2023.
In 2023, Philadelphia saw a 7 percent decrease in overdose deaths and preliminary data shows a further decrease in 2024. However, the decrease is not equally distributed — there was a 15 percent decrease in overdose deaths among White people, a 5 percent decrease among Black people, and a 2 percent increase among Hispanic people.
Aside from the changing demographics of the overdose crisis, data reveals the drugs involved are changing. In 2023, 80 percent of all drug involved deaths involved fentanyl, and the introduction of the veterinary sedative, xylazine —which is associated with severe wounds — was involved in 38 percent of all overdose deaths that year.
Officials have outlined the city’s response, which includes door-to-door outreach programs in affected neighborhoods, as well as an increased distribution of testing strips and naloxone.
“We didn’t get into the overdose crisis overnight, and we’re not going to get out of it overnight,” said Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson, the city’s Health Commissioner, in a statement.
The Health Department distributed over 100,000 doses of naloxone in 2023, almost doubling the 2022 distribution. As part of that distribution program, residents can get for free from the Health Department, as well as by prescription or over the counter at local pharmacies. The Health Department has also distributed more than 180,000 fentanyl test strips, and nearly 50,000 xylazine test strips.
Free training on how to use these test strips, as well as how to reverse an overdose with naloxone, is available—in 2023, the City conducted more than 230 trainings.
“Medications for opioid use disorders, such as buprenorphine, save lives,” said Dr. Daniel Teixeira da Silva, Medical Director of the Substance Use Prevention and Harm Reduction (SUPHR) division of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. “I want to take the opportunity to remind all prescribers with a DEA license that you can prescribe buprenorphine to your patients. The x-waiver has been eliminated. And it is more important than ever that prescribers integrate buprenorphine prescribing into their practice.”
More than 10,000 patients with opioid use disorder are seen every year in Philadelphia’s emergency departments. From 2017 to 2023, the number of unique prescribers who wrote prescriptions for buprenorphine increased nearly threefold to almost 1,500 prescribers.
To read the full report, visit substanceusephilly.com.
