OD and Fentanyl Deaths Continue to Soar in Santa Barbara County

Sheriff Bill Brown to Highlight Efforts to Address Increase in Overdose Deaths at Board of Supervisors This Tuesday

Sheriff Bill Brown | Credit: Daniel Dreifuss (file)

The number of drug overdose deaths continued its dramatic upward ascent between 2021 and 2023, driven largely by a spike in fentanyl deaths. Overall, the number of people who died from a drug overdose of any kind climbed from 149 in 2021 to 226 in 2023. Fentanyl-related fatalities jumped from 78 to 112 in that same time period.

Although there was an uptick in the number of deaths for women and for Latino people, most of the overdose deaths — either by fentanyl or other substances — involved white males. In terms of age, people between the ages of 35 and 54 made up 30.2 percent of all overdose deaths in 2021 and 42.5 percent in 2023. Similarly, they made up 28.2 percent of all fentanyl-related deaths in 2021 and 51.8 percent in 2023.

The most significant drop in such deaths took place with people between the ages of 18 and 34. In 2021, this age group accounted for 33.6 percent of all overdose deaths and by 2023, that number dropped to 19 percent. For fentanyl, the drop was more precipitous, from 50 percent in 2021 to 25 percent in 2023.

Sheriff Bill Brown intends to highlight efforts being made to address this increase before the county supervisors this Tuesday. Brown will highlight the fact that in 2024, there are only five narcotics officers in all five of the county’s law enforcement agencies. In 2007, he noted in his staff report to the supervisors, there were 27.

Brown, now president of the Major Sheriffs Council of America, has been banging the gong about fentanyl and other overdose deaths for the past two years. In addition, he has long lamented the loss of designated narcotics officers among law enforcement agencies, all of which have struggled to fund, recruit, and retain law enforcement personnel.

Among county supervisors, there is both sympathy and impatience with Brown’s position and frustration that his department has not been able to fill positions that are budgeted. All that will be up for discussion during the 90-minutes allotted for Tuesday’s board hearing.