The Power of Data: Preventing Overdose Deaths

To address the overdose crisis, health departments across the country use data to track overdoses, identify emerging drug threats and develop strategies to address and prevent overdose deaths. As the program implementation specialist at the Florida Department of Health, it’s Jonetta Morris’ job to gather that information, collecting data from about 25 districts in the state to better understand the circumstances around overdose death and identify areas for intervention.

“We collect certificates, medical examiner reports, postmortems and toxicology reports,” said Morris. “My role is making sure the data is complete.”

Having complete and accurate data is critical to overdose response as it allows states like Florida to see trends and gaps in the systems and areas in which intervention is needed and then disseminate that information to key stakeholders working to address drug overdoses in communities across the state.

When overdose deaths occur, data abstractors receive reports from Morris and input them to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS) and the related National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS).

“This data can actually be used to prevent mortality and to prevent some of these cases,” explained Morris. “The earlier we can identify gaps, the more lives we can save.”

Morris’ work is part of the CDC Foundation’s Expanding Capacity and Partnerships to Address the Drug Overdose Epidemic program within CDC’s Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) program. In 2025, the CDC Foundation supported more than 200 field staff stationed across 45 jurisdictions, working on behalf of health departments across the nation to enhance drug overdose prevention efforts through data. Staff assist with essential public health responses, provide clinicians with the data they need to improve prescribing practices and foster coordination across sectors to support access to treatment and long-term recovery.

These programs enable communities to adapt prevention strategies to local needs, where access to treatment, recovery or other overdose prevention services can vary widely. CDC cited the OD2A program as an example of one of the programs helping to contribute to the overall decline in overdose deaths in 2024.

The OD2A staffing support program is supported by CDC of the U.S. HHS as part of a financial assistance award totaling $17,000,000 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CDC/HHS or the U.S. Government.