Gov. Andy Beshear announced Wednesday that Kentucky recorded its fourth consecutive year of declining overdose deaths in 2025, with 1,110 residents losing their lives to drug overdose — a 22.9% decrease from the previous year and the lowest number recorded since 2014.

The decline represents a 50.8% reduction from 2021, when Kentucky experienced its highest overdose death toll on record. According to the 2025 Kentucky Drug Overdose Fatality Report, the state achieved the second-largest single-year decrease since Kentucky began reporting overdose deaths in 2012.

"We mourn all 1,110 Kentuckians who lost their lives to a drug overdose last year," Beshear said. "They were a mom, dad, brother, sister, child or neighbor – and most importantly a child of God who is gone too soon. While we are proud of the progress we have made in fighting addiction, we know we must continue working every day to save more Kentuckians from addiction."

The Office of Drug Control Policy reported that fentanyl, which was present in 62.3% of overdose deaths in 2024, declined to 45.4% in 2025. Methamphetamine was identified in 49.5% of deaths, down from 50.8% the previous year. Both drugs remain the most prevalent contributors to overdose mortality in the state.

Among Black Kentuckians, 129 overdose deaths were recorded in 2025 — a 25.4% decrease compared with the prior year and the second consecutive annual decline for that demographic group.

Van Ingram, executive director of the Office of Drug Control Policy, attributed the progress to statewide collaborative efforts. "Addiction has affected every state in our nation and has caused insurmountable harm to families and future generations – even in our own hometowns," Ingram said. "And because we worked together, because of every Kentuckian who sought recovery, because of everyone loving their neighbor and saying enough is enough, lives have been saved."

State officials credited multiple factors for the decline, including the distribution of more than $29 million in grant and pass-through funding, widespread distribution of Narcan overdose-reversal medication, expanded access to addiction services through Medicaid, and syringe exchange programs. Law enforcement efforts to remove dangerous drugs from circulation also contributed to the decline.

During the first three months of 2025, Kentucky State Police seized more than $5.4 million worth of drugs — $3.1 million more than during the same period in 2024. In November, Beshear classified 7-hydroxymitragynine, a concentrated form of kratom, as a Schedule I narcotic, and previously designated bromazolam, known as "designer Xanax," as a Schedule I narcotic.

The governor emphasized that the challenge ahead is sustaining and accelerating the progress. "It ought to tell us that an epidemic that arose in our time, we should be able to defeat in our time," Beshear said.