These days, it seems like the hardest thing to encounter in the United States of America is something we can all celebrate as unequivocally good news. Well, you’d think that the steady and substantial decline in drug overdoses over the past two years would be appropriate.
The only problem for the traditional news media is how to tell this happy story without giving any credit to President Donald Trump.
In 2022, under the disastrous Biden administration, opioid overdose deaths peaked at a shocking 110,000. By 2025, that number was an estimated 73,000 under Trump. It’s true that the decline began during Biden’s last year in office, when the people actually running the country recognized that border security was an election-year issue. But last year’s number was 21% lower than Biden’s last year as president.
A Fentanyl vial is seen in Shanghai on March 4, 2025. (VCG/Getty Images)
A drop of 37,000 this year from the 2022 annual peak is truly a miracle. For perspective, 58,220 American lives were lost in the Vietnam War. Believe me, if you even hear this good news, it will be presented as a trend started by Grandpa Joe.
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That’s like giving an arsonist credit for stubbing out one lit cigarette.
Much of Biden’s final year in office is reminiscent of Bill Cosby’s joke about kind grandparents who were cruel to their own children: “You’re looking at an old person trying to get into heaven,” he joked. In Biden’s case, you simply replace heaven by getting re-elected.
Whatever the motivation, we should be happy and grateful that the previous administration oversaw tens of thousands of fewer tragic overdose deaths, even if it took a while, and we should be overjoyed that that number has gotten even lower under Trump.
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Frankly, there are about as many supposed explanations for this decline in overdoses as there are experts who can offer them. Some credit the new regulations surrounding fentanyl in China, others the widespread availability of anti-overdose drugs like Naloxone, and still others credit treatment programs.
What you hear less about are the Trump administration’s major ban efforts. In a week operational wave last September, the Drug Enforcement Agency seized 200 pounds of fentanyl powder from the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, more than enough to kill everyone in most U.S. states.
The Drug Enforcement Administration said, “This is the largest single seizure of counterfeit pills in Colorado history, and the sixth largest, single seizure of suspected fentanyl pills in the history of the United States.” (DEA)
Add to that the fact that for the first time, perhaps ever, the US has a southern border that doesn’t resemble a spaghetti sieve through which drugs and the illegal immigrants who traffic in them leak.
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The Trump administration has brought inflation under control and overseen a rise in real wages that could lead many at-risk Americans from the bridge of despair to a life of purpose.
Nor should one ignore the increase in church attendance, especially among young people, when taking into account the decline in overdose deaths. It is not without reason that religion is often called ‘the opiate of the masses’, a phrase borrowed from Karl Marx. Well, it’s certainly better than real opioid addiction.
All of these positive trends under Trump have added up to a situation where some doctors say they have gone from 10 to 12 overdoses a day to just one or two.
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Whether it’s through his secured border, his attacks on Venezuelan drug ships, or even his trade negotiations with China, Trump has prioritized stemming the flow of deadly drugs into our country, and it’s working.
Politics, especially these days, can seem like a game show. Who puts points on the board? What do the polls say? Where are the prediction markets?
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But politics is much more than that, and thanks to Trump’s sound policies, tens of thousands of Americans enjoyed the holidays with their families, who would otherwise be represented by a sadly empty chair.
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The traditional news media’s inability, or unwillingness, to celebrate any of Trump’s achievements, even ones as pure as saving lives from overdoses, remains the biggest and most obvious stain on their crumbling credibility.
If the administration can continue this trend, if fewer and fewer of our brothers and sisters succumb to the slow death of opioids, then whether Trump gets the credit or not, it will be a cause for great joy. Actually that is already the case.
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