A significant decline in fatal drug overdoses last year and a lesser, gradual decline in nonfatal overdoses in recent years in Macomb County provides some encouragement that perhaps progress is being made in combatting the opioid crisis. The number of fatal drug overdoses in Macomb County, 234 in 2023, dropped by nearly 25% from 311 in 2022 and are down nearly 41% from a high of 394 in 2017, according to statistics compiled by the state Department of Health and Human Services. The decline in the county’s numbers is higher than the statewide number in which fatal overdoses fell by 5.
7% from 2022 to 2023 in Michigan, according to state data. In addition, the number of nonfatal drug overdoses — labeled by the state as “drug poisonings” — in the Macomb County and statewide has been gradually declining in recent years. The decrease in Macomb County fatal overdoses from 311 deaths in 2022 to 234 last year is the lowest number since 2013, when there also was 234, according to state statistics.
At that time, 234 deaths was a record high in the county. The initial jump in drug overdoses in Macomb County began in 2004 when there were over 100 — 104 — for the first time. The number of overdoses gradually increased to hit 200 in 2009.
In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic there were 330 deaths reported, the third highest number ever in the county. In 2021, there were 315 fatal overdoses here. Meanwhile, the number of Macomb County residents who have gone to em.