Florida Drug Deaths Fell Again in 2025: Opioid-Caused Deaths Down 33 Percent and Fentanyl-Caused Deaths Down 37 Percent
The Florida Medical Examiners Commission's 2025 annual report, released by FDLE, records a 12% drop in total drug-related deaths — and fentanyl-caused deaths down nearly 60% from their 2023 level, from about 5,000 to about 2,000.
Florida's drug death toll fell again last year. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has released the Florida Medical Examiners Commission's 2025 Annual Drugs Identified in Deceased Persons Report, and it shows total drug-related deaths down 12% from 2024 to 2025, opioid-caused deaths down 33% and fentanyl-caused deaths down 37%, according to the report as announced by state officials. Fentanyl remained the leading drug involved in deaths, followed by cocaine, down 16%, and methamphetamine, down 23%.
The longer view is steeper. Gov. Ron DeSantis, announcing the figures in Orlando on October 20, said fentanyl caused nearly 5,000 deaths in Florida in 2023 and about 2,000 in 2025 — nearly 3,000 fewer deaths a year — with deaths caused by fentanyl analogs down more than 50% from 2024 to 2025 alone. "Fentanyl-caused deaths in Florida have declined by nearly 60% since we launched the S.A.F.E. grant program in 2023," DeSantis said in the state's release, crediting the State Assistance for Fentanyl Eradication grant program he established that year.
The commission's annual report is the state's consolidated medical-examiner record: it counts the drugs identified in deceased persons across Florida's medical examiner districts and separates drugs that were present from those judged to have caused the death. For Central Florida, the numbers describe the trend local treatment and enforcement programs have been working against since the fentanyl peak — the report records the decline; the state's release attributes it to the S.A.F.E. program and law-enforcement work.
