Denver recorded 563 drug-related deaths in 2025, medical examiner says

Denver recorded 563 drug-related deaths in 2025, a 16.6% increase from the previous year, according to the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner’s 2025 annual statistical report.

The report classified 522 deaths as accidental, 25 as suicides and 16 as undetermined. The total therefore includes more than accidental overdoses alone.

The report also counted 226 deaths among people experiencing homelessness and identified overdose as the leading cause of death for that population. It did not provide the number of overdose deaths in that group, a population denominator or an overdose rate.

Fentanyl-related deaths increased 35.7% from 2024 to 2025, the report says, and 73% of drug-related deaths involved more than one substance. The medical examiner cautioned that its dashboards can change as cases are reviewed, finalized or corrected. The annual report counts cases by the date they became medical examiner cases, while the dashboards use the date of death.

The findings are expected to inform a Denver City Council recognition of Aug. 31 as Denver Overdose Grief Day. The proclamation prepared for the council cites fentanyl, methamphetamine used with other drugs and an unregulated drug supply as major drivers of the crisis. As of Aug. 30, the action remained planned; the available record does not show a completed vote.

Denver’s existing response includes naloxone distribution and training, drug-checking strips, overdose education, treatment referrals and outreach, according to the city’s overdose-prevention program.

A proposed expansion of the Harm Reduction Action Center would add a fixed site and street outreach in high drug-traffic areas and encampments. The proposed HRAC scope includes sterile syringes and smoking pipes, naloxone, fentanyl and xylazine test strips, wound care, sharps disposal, health education, basic-needs assistance and referrals. The scope says about 80% of HRAC clients are homeless or transitionally housed and that the program serves people who smoke drugs as well as people who inject them.

The proposed service targets call for HRAC to serve more than 2,500 people through more than 10,000 access episodes and distribute 1,500 naloxone kits by Sept. 30, 2026, using American Rescue Plan Act funding. A separate opioid-settlement component sets targets of more than 4,500 people, 20,000 access episodes and 2,500 naloxone kits by December 2026.

Those targets remain prospective. The council resolution does not show completed council passage, and the related agreement says it is not binding until required signatures and, if applicable, council approval are complete. The record does not establish that the expansion has begun, a facility has opened or any targets have been met.

The medical examiner’s public materials provide citywide totals but no neighborhood, ZIP code, census tract or address-level breakdown. They also do not specify whether a geographic measure would reflect a person’s residence, death location or incident location. Neighborhood-level conclusions would require further reporting.