Los Angeles · Drugs & public health
What changed, how much, and over which years.
Explore recorded drug offences and available overdose deaths. Each measure keeps its own definition and geography.
On the ground
Independent street reporting
Skid Row & MacArthur Park Watch Los Angeles 22:34 Video still · Nick Shirley · Frame at 24:51 ↗
On Skid Row, Shirley interviews people about painkillers and drugs, including a mother and her son. The next chapter is his account of being ordered out of MacArthur Park.
Watch this city 22:34 ↗Published
Two ways to understand a place. These are the reporter’s observations and interviews at particular locations. The charts below track separately recorded police offences and available deaths across their stated geographies; they do not measure everything seen in the film.
Explore the dataArrest reports and NIBRS offenses are different counts. 2024 appears in both because the arrest file still covers that calendar year and NIBRS starts on 7 March 2024. They are not joined into one line.
Overdose deaths are Los Angeles County, not the City of Los Angeles. They are not used to shade neighbourhood councils.
01 / Police data
Select a measure to inspect its trend. Missing years stay blank; partial years stay separate.
City of Los Angeles
Last updated Reviewed dataset
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 12,259 |
| 2017 | 11,580 |
| 2018 | 11,094 |
| 2019 | 11,031 |
| 2020 | 6,535 |
| 2021 | 5,469 |
| 2022 | 4,918 |
| 2023 | 4,965 |
| 2024 | 5,805 |
02 / Public health
Deaths are a separate measure. Police counts do not measure overdose deaths or drug use.
Los Angeles County
Last updated Reviewed dataset
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 1,123 |
| 2017 | 1,156 |
| 2018 | 1,204 |
| 2019 | 1,652 |
| 2020 | 2,570 |
| 2021 | 3,010 |
| 2022 | 3,220 |
| 2023 | 3,137 |
| 2024 | 2,442 |
| 2025 | 2,298 |
03 / Behind the numbers
Last updated 2026-10-01 · accepted source review.
Open source ↗ · Last updated 2026-10-01 (reviewed)
City of Los Angeles · 2010–2019 file is CC0. The 2020–30 April 2025 file does not state CC0; attribute the Los Angeles Police Department.
Open source ↗ · Last updated 2026-10-01 (reviewed)
City of Los Angeles · Published by LAPD on data.lacity.org. Attribute the Los Angeles Police Department. Do not mark these rows CC0.
Open source ↗ · Last updated 2026-10-01 (reviewed)
Los Angeles County · County public-health report. Table totals for accidental drug overdose deaths, 2016–2025. The age groups in that table sum to these annual totals.