Trump to confront Colombia’s Petro on drug allegations as U.S. overdose deaths decline

Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have dropped by 21% through most of last year as the Trump administration escalates its efforts to crack down on both the supply and demand of the illicit substances.

The good news comes ahead of President Trump’s White House meeting on Tuesday with Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Mr. Trump has accused the Colombian leader of trafficking cocaine and has revoked his U.S. visa and imposed sanctions on him and his family over the allegations.

Mr. Trump also has threatened to use the U.S. military in Colombia to crack down on drugs, following the U.S. raid in Venezuela in which American troops captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. The couple is now in a Manhattan jail awaiting trial and has pleaded not guilty to narcoterrorism charges.

“Colombia is very sick too, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you,” Mr. Trump told reporters in January.

Mr. Petro has denied the charges and has vowed to cooperate with the Trump administration on drug raids in his country. Last week, he announced that Colombian security forces killed five members of the country’s largest drug cartel, including a regional kingpin.

But Mr. Petro has been very critical of Mr. Trump’s actions in Venezuela, and angered White House officials when he participated in a pro-Palestnian rally in New York last September.

Still, Secretary of State Marco Rubio granted Mr. Petro a temporary U.S. entry authorization so he could attend the Trump meeting with a revoked visa, suggesting that tensions between the two nations may be thawing.

U.S. and Colombian officials have said publicly that the sit-down will focus on intensifying the fight against drug cartels, as well as trade and joint economic opportunities.

The meeting with Mr. Petro is the latest move by Mr. Trump to crack down on the flow of drugs into America. Since returning to office, he has bombed boats that his administration says are carrying illicit substances in the U.S., struck a trade deal with China that requires Beijing to clamp down on the production of chemicals used to make fentanyl, and tightened the porous U.S. border where many of the drugs were coming into the country.

Data released last month from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that some of those actions are making an improvement in a crisis that has been worsening for decades.

An estimated 73,000 people died from drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending August 2025, a 21% decrease from 92,000 during the previous 12-month period.

Overdose deaths had been rising steadily each year since the 1990s because of the prevalence of opioid painkillers and heroin. As opioid use started to wane, fentanyl became popular, with drug deaths peaking at 110,000 in 2022. The numbers started to fall a bit in 2023 and 2024 under President Biden.

The CDC also found that drug deaths had decreased in 45 states.

Researchers did not say why drug deaths are declining. Possible explanations include the increased use of naloxone, which reverses overdoses; expanded addiction treatment, and younger generations using drugs less than their predecessors.

Although Mr. Trump has largely fought to decrease the supply of drugs into the U.S., he has recently shifted to trying to reduce the demand for illicit substances.

On Thursday, he launched the Great American Recovery Initiative, a program aimed at bolstering the federal government’s response to substance abuse.

The initiative is aimed at treating drug addiction and substance abuse in the same manner as other chronic health issues. It aims to better align federal resources, establish national goals and use data to influence the government’s response to addiction.

The initiative will also focus on increasing awareness about the dangers of drug addiction and work with federal agencies to integrate drug prevention programs, early intervention, treatment, recovery support and reentry into society.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kathryn Burgum, who is married to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, will chair the panel. Ms. Burgum struggled with alcoholism before becoming sober 22 years ago and is a vocal advocate for addiction recovery.

“We’re taking a bold action to help Americans struggling with all forms of addiction, so they can get the help and support that they need to free themselves from the horrible burden of dependency,” Mr. Trump said. “It will help mobilize the full resources and authority of the federal government to help stop this plague.”

Mr. Kennedy said the initiative will be different from other federal substance abuse programs because it will coordinate with different agencies, requiring them to work together rather than programs siloed in different government departments.

Federal funding for drug recovery comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Earlier this month, the Trump administration reversed course and dropped previously announced plans to cut $2 billion from the agency.

In 2024, more than 74% of adults who perceived they had had a problem with drugs or alcohol considered themselves to be in recovery or to have recovered, according to government data. The same data said that 40.7 million adults with a substance abuse disorder in 2024 did not receive treatment, and 95.6% did not recognize that they needed it.