\u201cWe\u2019re losing 300,000 people a year to fentanyl that comes through our border. We had it down to the lowest number and now it\u2019s worse than it\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Former President Donald Trump at a July 24 campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina<\/p>\n
Former President Donald Trump claimed at a recent campaign rally that more than 300,000 Americans are dying each year from the synthetic opioid drug fentanyl, and that the number of fentanyl overdoses was the \u201clowest\u201d during his administration and has skyrocketed since.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re losing 300,000 people a year to fentanyl that comes through our border,\u201d Trump told his supporters at a July 24 campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina. \u201cWe had it down to the lowest number and now it\u2019s worse than it\u2019s ever been,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s figures appear to have no basis in fact. Government statistics show the number of drug overdose deaths<\/a> per year is hovering around 100,000 to 110,000, with opioid-related deaths at about 81,000. That\u2019s enough that the government has labeled<\/a> opioid-related overdoses an \u201cepidemic,\u201d but nowhere close to the number Trump cited.<\/p>\n Moreover, though the number of opioid deaths has risen since Trump left office, it\u2019s incorrect to claim they were the \u201clowest\u201d while he was president.<\/p>\n Numbers Are High, but Nowhere Near Trump\u2019s Claim<\/strong><\/p>\n Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt wouldn\u2019t comment specifically on the source for Trump\u2019s statistics. She instead sent KFF Health News an email with several bullet points<\/a> about the opioid crisis under the heading: \u201cDRUGS ARE POURING OVER HARRIS\u2019 OPEN BORDER INTO OUR COMMUNITIES.\u201d<\/p>\n One such bullet noted that there were \u201c112,000 fatal drug overdoses\u201d last year and linked to a story from NPR<\/a> reporting that fact \u2014 directly rebutting Trump\u2019s own claim of 300,000 fentanyl deaths. Additionally, the number NPR reported is an overall figure, not for fentanyl-related deaths only.<\/p>\n More recent government figures<\/a> estimated that there were 107,543 total drug overdose deaths in 2023, with an estimated 74,702 of those involving fentanyl. Those figures were in line with what experts on the topic told KFF Health News.<\/p>\n \u201cThe number of actual deaths is probably significantly higher,\u201d said Andrew Kolodny, medical director for the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University, noting that many such overdose deaths go uncounted by government researchers.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I don\u2019t know where one would get that number of 300,000,\u201d Kolodny added. <\/p>\n Trump\u2019s claim that fentanyl deaths were the \u201clowest\u201d during his administration and are now worse than ever is also off the mark.<\/p>\n Overdose deaths \u2014 specifically those from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl \u2014 started climbing steadily in the 1990s. When Trump took office in January 2017, the number of overdose deaths related to synthetic opioids was about 21,000. By January 2021, when he left the White House, that tally was nearing 60,000, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s National Vital Statistics System<\/a> shows. Deaths involving synthetic opioids continued to increase after Trump left office.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s some truth to saying that there are more Americans dying [of opioids] than ever before,\u201d Kolodny said. \u201cBut again, if you were to look at trends during the Trump administration, deaths just pretty much kept getting worse.\u201d<\/p>\n In the last year, though, statistics show that overdose numbers have plateaued or fallen slightly, though it\u2019s too soon to say whether that trend will hold.<\/p>\n Given that Trump\u2019s claims about fentanyl came when discussing the southern border \u201cinvasion,\u201d it\u2019s worth noting that, according to the U.S. government<\/a>, the vast majority of fentanyl caught being smuggled into the country illegally comes via legal ports of entry. Moreover, nearly 90%<\/a> of people convicted of fentanyl drug trafficking in 2022 were U.S. citizens, an analysis by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, showed. That year, U.S. citizens received 12 times as many fentanyl trafficking convictions as did immigrants who were in the U.S. without authorization, the analysis showed.<\/p>\n Our Ruling<\/strong><\/p>\n Trump said, \u201cWe\u2019re losing 300,000 people a year to fentanyl that comes through our border. We had it down to the lowest number and now it\u2019s worse than it\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n Annual U.S. fentanyl deaths have increased since he left office, but Trump\u2019s claim about 300,000 deaths has no basis in fact and is contradicted by figures his press secretary shared.<\/p>\n Trump is wrong to assert that overdoses were the lowest when he was president. Moreover, Trump continues to link fentanyl trafficking to illegal immigration \u2014 a claim statistics do not support.<\/p>\n We rate Trump\u2019s claim Pants on Fire!<\/p>\n\n Cato Institute, \u201cU.S. Citizens Were 89% of Convicted Fentanyl Traffickers in 2022<\/a>,\u201d Aug. 23, 2023.<\/p>\n Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, \u201cU.S. Overdose Deaths Decrease in 2023, First Time Since 2018<\/a>,\u201d May 15, 2024.<\/p>\n C-SPAN, Former President Trump Campaigns in Charlotte, North Carolina<\/a>, July 24, 2024.<\/p>\n Department of Homeland Security, Fact Sheet: DHS Is on the Front Lines Combating Illicit Opioids, Including Fentanyl<\/a>, Dec. 22, 2023.<\/p>\n Email exchange with Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for Donald J. Trump for President, July 29, 2024.<\/p>\n National Vital Statistics System, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts<\/a>, July 7, 2024.<\/p>\n NPR, \u201cIn 2023 Fentanyl Overdoses Ravaged the U.S. and Fueled a New Culture War Fight<\/a>,\u201d Dec. 28, 2023.<\/p>\n Phone interview with Andrew Kolodny, medical director for the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University, July 31, 2024.<\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\nOur Sources<\/h4>\n
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