The number of Black San Diegans who died of drug overdoses fell from 159 in 2023 to 85 in 2025, nearly a 50 percent decrease, according to San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan. Overall deaths dropped from 1,203 to 840, and deaths among people under 18 declined from 13 to 2.
Stephan released these numbers during the second meeting of the Amazing Grace Subcommittee and the San Diego County Substance Use and Overdose Prevention Taskforce, a multi-disciplinary group aiming to reduce the impact of drug addiction and harm. The meeting, hosted by Amazing Grace chair Carla Crudup, rallied local leaders and community members Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026 at the Christian Fellowship Congregational Church.
“This is a substantial reduction,” Stephan said of the numbers. She said the result highlighted the importance of public health, law enforcement, education and community organizations working together to offer treatment and protection to people suffering from an overdose.
Significant efforts have been made to reduce illicit fentanyl, Stephan said. In 2022 alone, fentanyl killed more Americans than Covid-19, surpassing 100,000 overdoses between 2020 and 2021.
“But what hasn’t come down in the same way is methamphetamine,” Stephan said, adding that more work is needed to bring down meth-related deaths. She said meth deaths have risen among older adults because the drug takes a toll on the body over time, leading to heart failure.
Stephan said the county is not fully equipped to treat patients suffering from mental health and substance use disorder. The county’s $29 million substance use treatment and recuperative care center will open this fall.
Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan, San Diego County Public Health Officer said the county has expanded narcotic treatment programs and withdrawal treatment beds, with plans to continue that expansion, calling the progress a result of collective community work.
Drug addiction should be given the same attention as any illness
“For generations, addiction has been regarded as a moral failing, a lack of willpower or a flaw in character,” said Dr. Suzanne Affalo, a local family medicine physician who gave a talk on mental health and substance use disorder. Affalo said society doesn’t give the same care to people with substance use disorder as it does to people with illnesses like diabetes.
Dr. Affalo explained the body can become addicted to substances because the brain is built to seek out activities that sustain life, such as food, connection and safety, releasing dopamine that reinforces those behaviors.
“The only problem with that is [that] alcohol, opioids, stimulants, and nicotine act on those same symptoms systems, and what that does is produce a surge,” she said, adding the brain releases more dopamine, exceeding the required amount.
The brain adapts and becomes less sensitive to pleasure when there’s repeated use of substances. “What happens is you have to increase the amounts of the certain substances that you use just to be able to feel normal,” Dr. Affalo said.
She said the prefrontal cortex, the front of the brain that controls judgment and impulse control, becomes less effective under substance disorder. “It requires a comprehensive kind of approach to dealing with people with substance abuse disorder, a whole person approach.” Dr. Affalo said.
Dr. Affalo recommended “evidence-based care” including behavioral therapies, counseling, care support, and medication as remedies for substance use disorder.
Naloxone as first aid
Reggie Washington of the local organization, Project Aware, spoke about naloxone, which reverses opioid overdose, and the California Good Samaritan law, which protects bystanders who seek help from arrest.
He said naloxone, also known as Narcan, reverses opioid overdoses but not stimulant overdoses, and he urged people to carry it, use it when needed and call 911. He also warned that counterfeit pills can look genuine and that fentanyl is often mixed into other drugs, so people shouldn’t assume they know what a pill contains.
He called for meeting young people where they are, sharing accurate information without judgment and challenging the stigma that addiction means someone doesn’t deserve help.
“When [young people] say they want a bar, they’re not talking about a candy bar,” Washington said.
