It’s outstanding news that opioid overdoses have gone down by more than half over the past year.

Fewer families are grieving the loss of a loved one to the throes of drug addiction. Fewer lives are being snuffed out – and that is a true cause for celebration.

Much of the credit for the progress in decreasing the number of overdose deaths goes to the increasing acceptance of drug overdose reversal medications like nalaxone, which if administered quickly can give people a new lease on life. Medication assisted treatment in the Chautauqua County Jail is also beneficial, though one has to wonder if bail reform is actually limiting the benefits of jail treatment for drug addiction since fewer people are making it into the jail in the first place.

That brings us to our concern with the progress made in the fight against overdose deaths. We’re making progress in only one front of a multi-front fight. Not as many people aren’t dying – and that’s the ultimate objective. But if fentanyl is one of the primary culprits in the rise in overdose deaths, then we have a long way to go. Fentanyl is still being found throughout the county as police seize drugs from dealers. The Jamestown Metro Drug Task Force alone has seen drug seizures more than double from 2018 to 2023 from 6,530 grams to 13,719 grams, according to this year’s annual report from the Jamestown Police Department.

Fewer people are dying, but there are more drugs than ever on our streets. And, while overdose deaths are decreasing, we don’t know how many overdose calls there are that don’t result in death. But we know overdose responses increased in Jamestown from 175 in 2020 to 251 in 2023, according to the JPD report.

Lastly, we have heard constantly over the past few years that one fairly common issue among those who have found themselves homeless has been either mental health issues or addiction issues. City and county officials are working to increase access to mental health and addiction programs, but progress has been slow.

We hate to be the wet blanket when it comes to addiction. We’d love to say we’re nearing the end of this fight. But while we’ve made progress – and any large decrease in a cause of death is reason to celebrate – we also know from the other statistics we see and stories we hear that we’re in the first quarter of this game, not at the two minute warning.