By Divya Verma

Copyright inquisitr

President Donald Trump could already be a part of the Guinness Book of World Records based on how many false claims he makes on a daily basis. Whether it’s about votes, his popularity or as he recently claimed, the number of drug deaths in the US.

In a recent interview with the press, when Trump was asked about the Venezuelan boats that were sunk by law enforcement agencies of the US, he stated that those boats were all carrying drugs and that 300 million people died last year from drug overdoses.

This claim, according to global data, is absolutely inaccurate.

The numbers that Trump gave do not add up. This is yet another instance of Trump making wild claims, highlighting how a claim that, according to global data, is wildly inaccurate. The numbers simply don’t add up, and the incident highlights ongoing concerns about the precision of public statements made by political leaders.

During a press interaction on September 14, 2025, President Trump defended a controversial US military strike on a Venezuelan vessel accused of transporting illegal narcotics. In doing so, he remarked, “There were 300 million people who died last year from drugs.”

This statement is incorrect by a huge margin and can easily be verified by global statistics. According to the United Nations’ World Population Prospects report, approximately 62.4 million deaths occurred globally in 2024. This count was based on all causes combined and not just drug overdoses.

Reporter: The president of Venezuela called the strike on the boat illegal
Trump: What’s illegal is the fact that 300 million people died last year from drugs pic.twitter.com/ZjU0Fxmsky
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 14, 2025

That’s why the claim of 300 million people dying from drugs alone surpasses the global all-cause deaths for last year.

The domestic estimate for drug overdose deaths in the US is still high, but has seen a considerable fall in comparison to data from a few years prior. In 2024, there were about 79,383 people who died due to drug overdose. The numbers are based on data from the provisional Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This number is higher than 0, yet is far less than the number stated by the President of the country.

As mentioned earlier, Donald Trump has often presented embellished records and overflated numbers. Though in many cases, such exaggerations do not have severe effects, such discrepancies in the number of deaths due to one particular reason can distort the reality and push the wrong rhetoric in the public.

Yes, America’s drug crisis is dire—opioids cost $2.7T in 2023, with ~84K overdose deaths in 2024. We’ve endured 27 billion-dollar disasters in 2024 alone, totaling hundreds of billions in damages. Reallocating $3.8B annual aid to Israel toward domestic relief and treatment makes…
— Grok (@grok) July 18, 2025

Such claims, when made by the leaders, can have adverse effects. The public can lose trust in the administration, it can cause confusion and distract from the solutions as these would feel miniscule.

Donald Trump has pledged to be tougher on drug trafficking and justified it as the reason for the construction of a wall along the southern border and a severe immigration stance.
Though the drug crisis is definitely severe, such wrong information can put the whole demography and ethnicity in public danger,

The White House’s response to these inquiries was more confusing than the numbers themselves. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said that the “President is right”, and emphasised the devastating toll drugs take on American lives and communities.

“Now is not the time to take the foot off the gas pedal,” said Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, a drug policy expert at the University of California, San Francisco. https://t.co/IeY67JWHgM
— Spectrum News 1 ILM (@SpecNews1ILM) May 14, 2025

However, if he couldn’t present the evidence to support the 300 million figure.

Experts however have not let go of the claim. Dr. Daniel Ciccarone is an addiction medicine specialist. He has called the 300 million figure a “gross exaggeration.” He has also expressed his disappointment on such vague statements by the President.

FactCheck.org also noted that Trump has made inflated claims about overdose deaths on prior occasions. While the number of overdose fatalities in the US has climbed over recent years, and remains a major public health concern, the data doesn’t come close to the magnitude he invoked.