Santa Cruz County overdose deaths are falling for third straight year

Drug overdose deaths in Santa Cruz County are falling sharply, reversing a trend that peaked just three years ago – and officials say a broad expansion of treatment, prevention and law-enforcement efforts is helping save lives

Twenty people have died from drug overdoses in the first six months of 2026, according to data from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. That’s down from 36 deaths during the same period last year. 

If that pace continues, the county could record fewer than 50 deaths this year – its lowest total in more than five years and the third consecutive annual decline since deaths soared above 130 in 2023.

The turnaround comes after years of increasingly deadly overdoses, driven in large part by fentanyl, and a coordinated expansion of efforts to prevent deaths and connect people with treatment.

Many programs and organizations are behind the decline. “It’s really taken all of us,” said Marni R. Sandoval, the county’s Health Services Agency behavioral health director, who oversees substance-use services.

And the county is betting the progress can continue. In recent years, Santa Cruz County has received millions of dollars in opioid settlement funds, money paid by drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies to state and local governments following lawsuits over the opioid epidemic.

The county has awarded more than $1.6 million since 2024, with a second round of funds announced this March.

Among the recipients is the nonprofit New Life Community Services, which received $201,358 this year to support a 14-bed addiction-treatment facility in Watsonville.

“What we’re doing and investing in and committed to is working,” Sandoval said. “And we can’t stop now.”

The county’s overdose crisis reached a grim peak in 2023, when more than 130 people died. That year prompted police, county officials and public health organizations to expand their efforts, said Santa Cruz County Sheriff-Coroner Chris Clark.

“We saw the largest number of overdose deaths we’ve ever seen,” he said.

Fentanyl, a powerful and inexpensive opioid usually sold in powder form, has been involved in close to 70% of overdose deaths since 2022. People who use other drugs, including cocaine and methamphetamine, can unknowingly consume fentanyl when it is mixed into these drugs. 

At Clark’s suggestion, former sheriff Jim Hart established a multidisciplinary team in 2023 to review every overdose death each month.

“We had folks from the state come sit with us because they hadn’t seen it done,” Clark said.

That review process helped lead to the formation of the Fentanyl Crisis Response Team in 2024, which focused on high-volume dealers typically selling at least a pound of drugs at a time, he said.

“We made short work of a lot of those dealers,” Clark said, adding that much of the dealing and deaths happen near the San Lorenzo River levee and Costco.

Police also carry naloxone, commonly known by its brand name Narcan, as a life-saving medicine to stop opioid poisoning. Officers use the medicine, delivered by nasal spray, to victims and give it freely to people in custody, Clark said.

He said law enforcement has leaned into a public-health approach to drugs instead of a criminal one. In 2015, the sheriff was among the first in the nation to set up a sobering center, where people arrested for public intoxication can be taken for treatment instead of prison.

The approach saves time for officers and taxpayer money, Clark said. “How do we look at working with other partners and getting others engaged to prevent this cycle of incarceration?” he said. “The sobering center is a huge piece of that.”

The Santa Cruz County Sobering Center, a 24/7 treatment facility near the county jail, reopened in 2024 after being shut down in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and budget cuts. The facility is run by Janus of Santa Cruz, a nonprofit providing treatment for substance-use disorder.

“It’s no surprise” that overdose deaths began coming down the same year the sobering center reopened, said Janus Chief Executive Amber Williams.

“We rallied around each other and saw what challenges were happening post-COVID in overdose death rates and focused on how we could get medication to the population,” she added.

At its 18 locations and through vans it sends across the county, Janus distributes Narcan to help prevent opioid deaths. The medicine, alongside public education and treatment, has been effective in preventing deaths from opioid poisoning, Williams said.

“What we know is the use of Narcan in our community has gone up,” she said.

Another promising medicine Janus provides is buprenorphine, which prevents cravings and, if a patient relapses, the drug can stop lethal opioid poisoning.

“We want to meet every patient where they are,” said Janus’ chief medical officer, Jason Wasche. “Some patients will come in and be like, “I’m not ready to stop using, but I’m not wanting to die.’”

Williams said Janus finds patients through various means, including offering walk-in care and having staff at probation-service centers. “We have a no-wrong-door approach,” she said.

The recent drop in deaths from substance-use disorder speaks to the collaborative spirit in the county, Williams said.

“Santa Cruz is a very unique county in the state of California in that we can pivot quickly,” she said.

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