KENTUCKY — After years of a steadily rising overdose mortality rate in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) on Thursday said the state’s number of deaths from overdoses fell for the first time in four years.

Drug overdose deaths declined by 5% in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to numbers from the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center. In 2022, 2,127 Kentuckians died from a drug overdose compared to 2,257 in 2021, KIPRC found.

During Thursday's Team Kentucky press conference, Beshear said while the decline brings hope, the state is still very much in crisis.

"This remains a public health crisis that we must continue to work together to address,” Beshear said. “We have done a lot of work to help Kentuckians fight addiction, but there is more to do and more lives to save."

Overdoses spiked in Kentucky at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to KIPRC's Dana Quesinberry, who joined Beshear Thursday to share the good news.

"The numbers from 2022 show that prevention efforts are working, and we share this news today to continue to inform prevention interventions as we work together across state and local government to address this public health crisis and save lives," Quesinberry said.

KIPRC has been tracking drug overdose-related deaths since 2011. The Office of Drug Control Policy, in partnership with KIPRC, will release the 2022 Kentucky Drug Overdose Report in the coming months.

Overdoses and the opioid epidemic have long been a pain point in the Commonwealth. Leaders and lawmakers from both parties have consistently highlighted the issue, with dozens of local and statewide efforts to quell the crisis having been implemented in recent months and years.