BATON ROUGE - Overdose deaths in East Baton Rouge Parish are trending down for the second year in a row.

In 2022, the numbers were 296, last year it went down just seven to 289, and then this year, it was down to 170 with 16 pending toxicology results. That is more than a 33% difference from 2023.

Anti-drug advocate Tonja Myles says while it is great that numbers have dropped, she says she will not be satisfied until that number is zero.

"We are excited, but we are not satisfied. Matter of fact, these are some of the most amazing numbers that are being seen across the country," Myles said.

Myles believes activists like her and law enforcement have both played a big role in the reduced numbers. District Attorney Hillar Moore agrees.

"It's also the mapping that we do, we look at where this all is occurring and where to send the workers to certain particular areas to hand out the cards of when you are ready, to hand out the Narcan, to talk and say, 'You are important valuable to us'," Moore said. 

Myles and Moore both believe the numbers can even drop more, with funding available from the opioid settlement.

"The question is how that money going to be used. Can we learn from where we are and put the money to use where it's best used, and we can save more lives? That's going to be the tricky part," Moore said.

"We have to make sure that we are pushing out hope and resource", Myles said.