- May 13, 2025
Volusia County overdose deaths were down by 25% last year compared to 2023, according to the medical examiner’s office annual report.
Volusia County Medical Examiner Dr. James Fulcher shared the yearly data during the April 15 County Council meeting, reporting that accidental drug overdose deaths continue to trend downward. In 2023, the county reported 303 overdose deaths. The number fell to 229 in 2024, down 42.75% from the county’s peak numbers in 2021, when 400 deaths were reported.
“We’re not at baseline yet,” Fulcher said. “Obviously, we still have a long way to go, but it is my belief that this drop has occurred due to the hard work of the recovery community, the hard work of law enforcement, the hard work of the state attorney and the availability of risk mitigation substances such as Narcan.”
Also, the actions by emergency medical services. Fulcher said data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that more people who overdose are able to be revived. The hope is to get them into recovery.
In 2024, 66% of accidental drug overdose deaths occurred in individuals 40 years or older. Male victims also accounted for 66% of deaths.
“Overdose is a disease of older individuals,” Fulcher said. “... A lot of the cases I do are people that broke their hip and got a prescription and now they’re addicted.”
There are people who will seek drugs on the street for pain relief after running out of their prescription medication, he explained.
And when people buy drugs in Volusia County, the probability of ingesting substances containing fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine are high. Those are top three drugs contributing to drug overdose deaths, according to the medical examiner’s data. Fentanyl was present in 67% of drug overdose deaths.
Volusia County Councilman Matt Reinhart shared that April 29 will mark the second anniversary of his brother’s death, who died due to an overdose after becoming addicted to a prescription drug.
He spoke about the importance of providing access to Narcan, as well as education on how to use it, referencing the distribution of ONEbox Narcan kits. Volusia Recovery Alliance, an Ormond Beach-based nonprofit, has distributed these kits to local businesses and has also obtained funding to install more free naxolone distribution vending machines in the county; nonprofit Foundations to Freedom installed Ormond’s first this year at the Grocery Box convenience store at 448 S. Yonge St.
“It’s not about the stigma that’s associated with that thinking,’ Well, you’ve got Narcan in your business. Is this a bad area?’” Reinhart said. “No, right now, we’re in a world that, unfortunately, it’s out there... As opposed to doing nothing, I’d rather do something to save a life.”
The medical examiner’s report additionally noted that suicides are up in Volusia County, increasing from 120 in 2023 to 134 in 2024. The county has recently averaged about 120 suicides a year.
Lack of access to health care, as well as increase of mental health issues, are attributing factors to the spike, according to Fulcher.
The medical examiner investigated about the same number of cases in 2024 compared to 2023. But if overdose deaths are down, what’s making up the gap? Fulcher said it’s the number of deaths of uninsured people without doctors.
"If you die in this state and don't have a Florida doctor, I end up doing an autopsy on you, because we don't know how you died," Fulcher said. "So it's lack of access to health care, unfortunately. It's starting to become a problem and it's filling the gap that the overdoses have dropped off.
