A city memo reported by FOX 7 puts opioid-related deaths in Travis County 35% lower, while officials warn that an increase in overdoses involving unidentified opioids remains unexplained. The decline is a positive trend, but the available EMS reports do not identify which drugs are driving the newer concerns.
A City Memo Reveals the Numbers
The 35% figure comes from a city memo, as reported by FOX 7 Austin. The outlet also reported officials' warning: “We have seen an increase in unknown opioids that are causing non-fatal and fatal deaths in our county.” Officials credit expanded naloxone distribution and community harm-reduction investments for the broader decline; that is their explanation for the trend, not evidence that the interventions alone caused it.
A separate countywide measure also shows a decline: Travis County recorded 301 accidental drug deaths in 2025, down from 486 in 2023, according to KUT. Fentanyl-related deaths fell 60%, from 279 in 2023 to 111 in 2025, the station reported. Drug deaths nevertheless remain the county's leading cause of accidental death, even as the trend appears to be improving statewide.
What's Behind the Unknown Opioid Risk
One concern officials have raised involves concentrated compounds derived from kratom. The plant, native to Southeast Asia, is sometimes marketed as a natural remedy for pain, anxiety and opioid withdrawal, according to FOX 7's report. Its active compound, mitragynine, can be chemically altered into 7-OH, which health officials describe as a semisynthetic opioid.
FOX 7's report cites lab studies finding that 7-OH can be substantially more potent than morphine under certain conditions. It also reports that concentrated 7-OH products can cause dependence, serious health complications and potentially life-threatening overdoses. According to the report, using 7-OH or kratom products with other drugs may mean more naloxone is needed to reverse an opioid-like overdose.
Smoke Shops, Gas Stations and an Unsettled Case
Kratom products are legally available at gas stations, convenience stores, smoke shops and online retailers, and can come in forms like candies, snacks and gummies, per the same reporting. That accessibility has drawn new scrutiny following the deaths of two University of Mississippi students last month, after police reported finding packaged kratom from a retail store during the investigation into their deaths, according to fox7austin.com's account. Texas law currently caps 7-OH levels in kratom at 2 percent and bans sales of kratom to minors, the station reports.
Austin police told the Austin American-Statesman they had found people in possession of products labeled 7-OH, but had not confirmed any connection between 7-OH and reported overdoses.
What EMS records show—and what they don't
The Statesman reported that Austin-Travis County EMS responded to 98 opioid overdose calls in September, with nine patients needing more than two doses of Narcan, compared with 73 calls and two such cases in the same month of 2025. Those figures track calls and naloxone use, but do not identify the drugs involved; EMS could not confirm whether 7-OH, cychlorphine or another substance was behind the increase. Separately, an Austin-Travis County EMS presentation to the Public Safety Commission says its Buprenorphine Bridge Program enrolled 239 clients and distributed 3,505 Narcan kits in 2024.
Federal Action and Local Guidance
Federal regulators have moved to address the concentration question directly. The Federal Register shows the DEA issuing a notice of intent to publish a temporary order scheduling 7-hydroxymitragynine and mitragynine pseudoindoxyl above a specified threshold, though the notice does not establish the final effective status of that order. Austin Public Health officials have said the goal of federal scheduling is to limit how much of these compounds can be present in products sold over the counter, giving regulators a legal means to define that threshold, according to fox7austin.com.
In the meantime, Austin Public Health is urging residents to read kratom product labels carefully, keep such products out of children's reach, and never combine them with alcohol or other drugs, per the same report. The guidance reflects a broader shift already visible in the data: Austin-Travis County EMS has reported a decline in opiate alerts alongside increased enrollment in its Opiate Bridge Program, completing 5,052 opioid use disorder interventions, according to a 2025 presentation to the county's Public Safety Commission. Citywide, overdose emergency calls and dispatches dropped 78% compared with the previous year, while overdose emergency department visits fell 57%, per CBS Austin's reporting.
