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Drug overdose deaths rising again in S.F. after months of declines Drug overdose deaths rising again in S.F. after months of declines
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Bay Area//Health
Drug overdose deaths rising again in S.F. after months of declines
By Catherine Ho, Health Care ReporterUpdated Feb 19, 2025 4:49 p.m.
A member of Episcopal Community Services picks up boxes of Narcan she used to administer on a person who had overdosed in the Central SoMa neighborhood in June. The person survived. Accidental drug overdose deaths in San Francisco are ticking back up after several months of declines, according to preliminary figures released by the Medical Examiner's office Wednesday. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle
Medical Examiner's officials load the body of a man who was believed to have overdosed in his SRO apartment building on Natoma and 8th Streets in San Francisco in December 2023. Accidental drug overdose deaths in San Francisco are ticking back up after several months of declines, according to preliminary figures released by the Medical Examiner's office Wednesday. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle
Accidental drug overdose deaths in San Francisco are ticking back up after several months of declines, according to preliminary figures released by the Medical Examiner's office Wednesday.
January marked the third consecutive month that overdose fatalities increased -- a reversal of the hopeful downward trend that began last summer and held through most of the fall.
Fifty-nine people died from overdoses in January -- up from 49 in December, 40 in November and 37 in October. Deaths from fentanyl, which make up the majority of overdose deaths, are also increasing at a similar rate: there were 41 fentanyl-related deaths in January, up from 37 in December, 30 in November, and 26 in October.
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October had the lowest number of monthly drug overdose deaths in four years, and 2024 as a whole saw a welcome 22% decline in deaths compared to 2023.
"Today's overdose crisis is multi-faceted and it is generally difficult to identify a single reason why the number of deaths in one month may be slightly up or down compared to prior months," the Department of Public Health said in a statement. "While there was an uptick from December 2024 to January 2025, this resembles similar trends in 2023 and 2024 when January deaths show an increase."
Though the latest figures are up, they are still a significant improvement from the record-breaking overdose deaths of 2023, when it was common to see 60 to 70 fatalities each month.
Reach Catherine Ho: cho@sfchronicle.com
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Catherine Ho
Health Care Reporter
Catherine Ho covers health care at The San Francisco Chronicle. Before joining the paper in 2017, she worked at The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Journal, writing about business, politics, lobbying and legal affairs. She's a Bay Area native and alum of UC Berkeley and the Daily Californian.
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analysis of article text
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prohibitionist
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prohibition_agency
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drugwar_propaganda
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legalization
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drug_reformer
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reform_referenda
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cannabis
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stimulant
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narcotic
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hallucinogen
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propaganda analysis
| st:0.01 fo:0 s:0 d:0 c:0.03 db:0.192 a:0.32 m:0.18 t:0.94 (f) |
text of article used for CRITICAL ANALYSIS, under FAIR USE provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107, et al.
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(video)
EXP - explicit prohibition propaganda (explicit_propaganda)
GRP - hated group (propaganda_theme1)
MAD - madness, violence, illness (propaganda_theme2)
SOC - survival of society (propaganda_theme3)
USE - gateway, use is abuse (propaganda_theme4)
KID - children (propaganda_theme5)
WAR - demonize, war, epidemic (propaganda_theme6)
TOT - total prohibition (propaganda_theme7)
DIS - dissent opposed (propaganda_theme8)
