By admin 
After years of a growing opioid crisis across the nation, Lexington County is seeing fewer and fewer overdose deaths.
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Overdose deaths in Lexington County peaked in 2022. At least 125 people died from an overdose that year, according to data from the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department. Then the number began to decline. By 2025, 75 overdose deaths were reported, a 40% decrease.
It’s not accidental, the sheriff’s department said, but a collaboration between law enforcement, along with emergency medical services and community intervention organizations, have worked together to prevent overdose deaths in the area.
“The overdose problem, over the last few years, has really gained a lot of attention,” Sheriff Jay Koon told The State. “Just tearing apart good families that are really affected by this stuff. So we all started working together, and our work is paying dividends.”
There is still a “ways to go,” Koon said, but the data shows that Lexington County is “turning the corner” on one of the biggest public safety challenges it faces.
Drug overdoses rose dramatically for more than two decades between 1999 and 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, many of which involve opioids. The opioid epidemic was declared a public health emergency in 2017, and since then, opioid overdose has claimed more than half a million lives. South Carolina was among 16 states with the most opioid overdose deaths per capita in 2024, with about 20.1 deaths per 100,000 people, according to an analysis of CDC data by the health news outlet KFF.
Change is happening. Overdose deaths are starting to fall across the country and in the state, with a 3% decline nationwide between 2022 and 2023, and another 14% decline between 2024 and 2025. And South Carolina is among the top 10 states with the most significant reduction in opioid deaths.
Addiction, drug use and overdoses are complicated issues, Koon said. Homelessness, mental health and drug addiction go “hand in hand,” and it’s not many times that you can find one of those with other components. That’s why it takes many different resources to make a difference.
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“You can’t police your way out of it,” Koon said. “Everybody has to work together.”
The sheriff’s department works to disrupt drug supply and hold traffickers accountable, while medical services provide life-saving interventions. Deputies carry Narcan, or naxolone, a medication that can save some in the midst of an overdose.
He praised the work of partners like the Courage Center, Uplift Lexington, the Lexington/Richland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council and other organization to help people find treatment, recovery resources and support.
Public education and awareness is also key.
“That starts with trying to educate our children coming up, but also dealing with people with addiction, getting them the help they need, and recognizing that this is nothing that we hide in the darkness,” Koon said. “We need to talk about it, and honor the ones that know we lost through overdoses, but also keep the fire going and the hope alive.”
Ultimately, the fight isn’t over, Koon said. Lexington County must still work towards preventing overdose deaths.
“When we have an overdose, everybody comes to the table (to) see really how we can drill down and maybe prevent the next family from going through it,” Koon said. “You lose the member of the community, everybody suffers.”
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