How many people have overdosed in Minnesota? The BCA has a new dashboard to track that

On Wednesday, a dashboard containing data about Minnesota overdoses and drug crimes went live. The project is from The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).

The dashboard contains information on drug overdoses, drug-related deaths and drug-related crimes in Minnesota going back as far as 2019, depending on the data set. It’s meant to be a tool for trend analysis among other information.

“We hope that making information about drug arrests, overdoses and deaths available in a single location will help law enforcement, medical service providers and others as they work to understand illicit drug use and its impact on our communities,” BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said.

The Minnesota Department of Health and the Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board contribute to the dashboard with data.

“It provides us with a unique lens into the challenges faced on the front lines and can help craft tailored strategies that make a difference,” said Dylan Ferguson, executive director of the EMS Regulatory Board.

The data collection is funded through a U.S. Department of Justice opioid abuse grant and publication of summary data is required by the grant.