People in Los Angeles County now have access to naloxone — the medication that can reduce the effects of an opioid overdose — in more places than ever before, including schools, churches, libraries and jails.

And that may be a key reason why the number of drug overdose deaths in the county plateaued last year, after more than eight years of alarming year-over-year increases, county officials said.

It’s part of the Department of Public Health’s local harm-reduction strategy — an approach that’s gaining traction across the country. It aims to decrease the negative consequences of recreational drug use by reducing stigma and equipping people with life-saving tools and information.

In short, it’s an attempt to meet people where they are.

This week, the county announced a 4% decrease last year in the number of fatalities from drug overdoses or poisoning compared to the previous year. Those numbers were: 3,092 deaths in 2023; down from 3,220 in 2022, according to data from the Medical Examiner’s Office.

The county Department of Public Health called it a “step in the right direction after meteoric rises amid the worst overdose crisis in both local and national history.”

“Harm reduction engages those who are at the highest risk of overdose,” said Dr. Gary Tsai, the department’s director of the Substance Abuse Prevention and Control Division. “We do think that’s one of the areas that most contributed to the plateau.”

He said there has been increased attention on the overdose deaths of young people in recent years, spurring organization leaders that had not been interested in carrying naloxone to change their minds.