Buchanan County records fewest overdose deaths since 2019 as cases decline by 35% in 2025

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- Buchanan County recorded a 35% decline in fatal overdoses in 2025, the fewest cases going back to 2019 according to county data. 

Data provided by the Buchanan County Medical Examiner’s Office shows 20 fatal overdoses have been confirmed thus far in 2025. The number marks a 35% decrease from 2024 when 31 fatal overdoses were reported, although cases remain elevated compared to pre-2017 data.  

The latest figure also marks the fewest number of overdose deaths recorded in a year since 2019, when 15 occurred in Buchanan County. 

Statewide, data from the CDC indicates Missouri has experienced a 29% decline in fatal overdoses compared to last year, when 1,450 people died as a result of a drug overdose. 

Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl continue to make up a large majority of overdose cases statewide and in Buchanan County. 

Local authorities began to see a rise in fentanyl and synthetic-opioid-related cases before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, with cases skyrocketing in the years following from 2020 to 2022. 

The number of fatal overdoses nearly tripled from 15 in 2019 to 42 in 2022 locally. 

Cases have steadily declined in the time since, lowering to 28 in 2023 and 20 by 2025, but remain elevated compared to pre-2017 figures. The growing use of Narcan has also played a critical role in the

Since 2016, a total of 221 people in Buchanan County have died of a drug-related overdose.