Santa Barbara, Calif.  –  Santa Barbara County is seeing encouraging progress in the fight against drug overdoses, with new data showing a dramatic decline in overdose deaths over the past two years. From 2023 to 2024, overdose deaths in Santa Barbara County dropped from 158 to 96, a 40% decline, significantly outpacing the national decrease of 25% during the same period. The downward trend continued in 2025, with 93 deaths recorded, representing 65 fewer lives lost since 2023.

If overdose deaths had continued at 2023 levels, the county would have experienced an estimated 316 deaths over the past two years. Instead, there were 189, meaning 127 lives were saved compared with previous trends.

The largest decrease occurred in fentanyl-related overdoses, which fell from 111 deaths in 2023 to 59 in 2024 and 46 in 2025 — a 47% drop in the first year alone, exceeding the 30% national decline. Methamphetamine-related overdose deaths also declined, dropping from 95 in 2023 to 52 in 2025, while deaths among people experiencing homelessness fell dramatically from 51 in 2023 to 20 in 2025 — a 61% reduction overall.

“These numbers represent real progress, but more importantly, they represent lives saved.” said Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown. “The decline we are seeing is the result of a coordinated effort across our community — prevention and education, treatment and recovery services, harm-reduction programs like Narcan distribution, and strong enforcement targeting the trafficking of dangerous drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine. While we are encouraged by these results, and we remain committed to continuing this comprehensive approach to protect lives and reduce the devastating impact of addiction in Santa Barbara County.”

Despite the progress, overdose deaths remain higher among chronically addicted adults between 35 and 54 years old. This demographic continues to be a targeted focus of treatment and intervention efforts, including Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) programs in both the county jail system and in the community.

Medication Assisted Treatment in the county jail system has expanded significantly. As of last week, 265 inmates, which is about 35% of the jail population, are enrolled in MAT, with less than a 1% refusal rate with no inmates on the waiting list.

Community harm-reduction programs have also expanded access to Naloxone (Narcan), which is available free of charge at sheriff’s stations, both the Main Jail and Northern Branch Jail, and through community partners including Pacific Pride Foundation and UCSB Student Health.

Law enforcement has also intensified efforts to disrupt the supply of dangerous drugs entering the community. In 2024, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office expanded its narcotics enforcement operations to include dedicated teams in both North and South County.

Since mid-2024, investigators have seized:

• 3 million doses of methamphetamine
• 35 million doses of cocaine
• 634,983 doses of fentanyl
• 14,688 fentanyl pills
• 60 firearms
• And have forfeited more than $221,000 in cash associated with illicit drug sales

Each counterfeit pill seized represents a potentially lethal dose, as many pills contain unpredictable combinations of substances. Likewise, the tiniest amount of fentanyl powder can be lethal.

The continued progress in reducing overdose deaths in our county depends on maintaining a balanced strategy that includes education, prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and enforcement. Project Opioid Santa Barbara County serves as a countywide coalition of leaders in government, education, medicine, the faith-based community, and other areas, focused on identifying and expanding strategies prevention / education, improving overdose surveillance, increasing naloxone distribution, strengthening access to treatment and long-term recovery services and strengthened narcotics enforcement to remove these deadly drugs from our community.