Substance Use Disorder

Substance and opioid use disorder hurts individuals, destroys families, and harms communities. In addition to the emotional and social impact, substance use disorder has a tremendous financial impact as well. 

Drug overdose deaths in particular have a tragically high cost. In 2022, 80 percent of overdose deaths in MN involved at least one opioid. The emergence of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50-100 times more powerful than heroin has driven a nationwide overdose crisis that claimed the lives of over 105,000 Americans in 2023. Fentanyl is often present in other drugs making people increasingly unaware of what is in the drugs they are consuming.

In Minnesota opioid-involved overdose deaths increased 51% from 2020 to 2022, and the number of deaths has more than doubled since 2019. While there has been a 3 percent decrease in deaths in 2023, this was primarily for the white population and declines were not shared across all groups. Native American Minnesotans are dying at over nine times the rate as white Minnesotans, and Black Minnesotans at over three times the rate. Since 2015, 20 percent of all overdose deaths were of individuals released from a correctional facility within the last year. 

Medicines for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are proven therapies to help treat opioid use disorder. They also reduce recidivism, the spread of disease, criminal justice involvement, as well as increase the likelihood an individual remains in treatment and maintains employment. Despite the success of MOUDs in treating opioid use disorder, a 2021 study from Minnesota Management and Budget found that less than half of all jails in Minnesota provide access to the medicines for those incarcerated.  

Goal: Reduce the impact of the opioid crisis on Minnesotans, their families, and their communities.

Measurable goal for 2027: Reduce opioid deaths by 5 percent.