San Diego Overdose and Substance Use Data: What the 2024 Numbers Show

San Diego County's overdose and substance use data for 2024, the most recent year reported on the California Department of Public Health's Overdose Surveillance Dashboard, recorded 441 opioid-related overdose deaths (a rate of 13.6 per 100,000 residents), 384 of which involved fentanyl specifically, alongside 1,178 opioid-related emergency department visits and 387 hospitalizations. These aren't projections or estimates from a treatment center's marketing page — they're the county's own surveillance numbers. This article walks through what the 2024 data shows, what it doesn't show, and where treatment fits into a picture this large.

How many opioid overdose deaths did San Diego County have in 2024?

441 opioid-related overdose deaths, a rate of 13.6 per 100,000 residents, according to CDPH's Overdose Surveillance Dashboard — the state's primary source for county-level overdose tracking. Fentanyl was specifically involved in 384 of those deaths, meaning the overwhelming majority of San Diego's opioid deaths in 2024 involved a synthetic opioid far more potent, and far less predictable in dose, than the drugs a decade of prior overdose data was built around.

How does San Diego's opioid data compare to its stimulant data?

Closely, and that's the part people researching "the opioid crisis" often miss. Psychostimulant-related deaths (meth and similar drugs) reached 399 in San Diego County in 2024 — nearly matching the 441 opioid-related deaths. Substance use in the county isn't a single-drug story, and treatment built around opioids alone would miss a substantial share of the people who need it. Golden Coast Rehab's methamphetamine and fentanyl pages describe how treatment differs for stimulant versus opioid use, including where medication-assisted treatment applies and where it doesn't.

Comparing years matters here: a single year's snapshot can't show trend direction on its own, which is part of why CDPH maintains the dashboard as a running surveillance tool rather than a one-time report. Anyone citing San Diego overdose numbers should note the year attached to the figure, since fentanyl-driven opioid deaths in particular have shifted quickly year over year across California.

What do the ED visit and hospitalization numbers show?

1,178 opioid-related emergency department visits and 387 opioid-related hospitalizations in San Diego County in 2024, per the same CDPH dashboard. Those numbers sit between the death count and the prescription count on a severity scale: they represent people who survived an overdose event and interacted with the medical system, whether or not that interaction led to ongoing treatment. An ED visit for an overdose is frequently the first moment a treatment conversation becomes possible — and frequently the moment it gets dropped because no warm handoff exists.

What does the opioid prescription data show?

1,029,440 opioid prescriptions were dispensed in San Diego County in 2023. That figure doesn't distinguish appropriate short-term pain management from prescriptions that later contributed to dependence — CDPH's dashboard doesn't track that distinction at the county level. What it does show is scale: prescribed opioid exposure in the county runs well over a million dispensing events a year, in the same county whose 2024 surveillance data recorded 441 opioid-related deaths. The relationship between prescription volume and illicit opioid use, including fentanyl-adulterated supply, is well documented nationally even where county-level causal data isn't available.

What treatment options exist for someone represented in this data?

San Diego County's DMC-ODS system covers outpatient levels of substance use care for Medi-Cal members: outpatient treatment, intensive outpatient, medically supervised withdrawal management (detox), and medication-assisted treatment using FDA-approved medications. Golden Coast Rehab is DHCS-certified (370254AP) for these outpatient levels — see our outpatient detox, IOP, and MAT pages. We don't provide residential or inpatient care; the county system can route someone to that level when an assessment calls for it. Our Medi-Cal coverage guide explains how to access the system regardless of which Medi-Cal managed care plan you're enrolled in.