Health
Drug-Overdose Deaths Fall by Record 22% in Los Angeles County
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics with Los Angeles Fire Station 11 prepare to take a patient to the hospital after being revived from a drug overdose with Narcan in October, 2024.
Photographer: Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
Drug-related overdose deaths and poisonings dropped by a record 22% in Los Angeles County last year, driven by a decline in fatalities tied to fentanyl — the synthetic opioid that has fueled a national crisis.
Deaths specifically tied to fentanyl tumbled 37%, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said Wednesday. Fentanyl deaths totaled 1,263 last year in the nation’s most populous county, the lowest since 2020 but still almost three times the 2019 tally.