Nearly 13,000 people died in California of drug overdoses between May 2023 and May 2024, the highest total of any U.S. state, according to a report issued on Dec. 3 by Hollywood Hills Recovery, a drug abuse treatment and recovery center in Los Angeles.
The state’s “porous border” and proximity to Mexico make it uniquely susceptible to the fentanyl crisis, it stated. Ninety percent of the fentanyl used in the United States comes from Mexico, according to the report.