For the first time in nearly three decades, drug deaths appear to be declining: Overdoses fell by five percent in 2018, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 69,000 Americans died of overdoses in 2018, compared to 72,000 the year before. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are fueling the rise in cocaine overdoses, and are increasingly involved in methamphetamine overdoses as well. The news is giving public officials hope that the opioid epidemic, which has helped lower American life expectancy for three years running, may finally be leveling off.