BOSTON – The Massachusetts Department of Public Health released its latest reports on opioid-related overdoses in the state on Wednesday, along with a feasibility report that finds the establishment of overdose prevention centers (OPCs), commonly known as safe injection sites, “would be an effective intervention to combat preventable overdoses and decrease fatal overdose rates in the state.”
Preliminary data in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30 shows 2,323 confirmed and estimated opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts, a reduction of eight deaths compared to the same timeframe last year. The state experienced a record high of 2,359 such deaths in 2022. The synthetic opioid fentanyl was present in 93 percent of all opioid-related overdose deaths in the first three months of this year. Since 2000, the opioid epidemic has resulted in over 25,000 fatalities in Massachusetts. The data also shows the number of non-fatal opioid overdoses among Massachusetts residents increased 130 percent from 2013 to 2017, but decreased 18 percent from 2017 to 2021.
The updated data also includes the latest totals for opioid-related overdose deaths by municipality through 2022. The data shows that fatal overdoses of Worcester residents increased to 141 in 2022, up from 105 in 2021. The number of fatal overdoses that occurred in Worcester increased to 168 in 2022 from 106 in 2021.
SEE THE DATA BELOW: Statistics for every municipality over a population of 20,000 in Massachusetts, and all Worcester County municipalities.
Other key findings in the newly released data:
- There were 1,718 confirmed and estimated opioid-related overdose deaths in the first nine months of 2023, approximately 32 fewer deaths than in the first nine months of 2022.
- The rate of opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts has increased at a rate of 3 percent per year on average from 2015 (25.6 per 100,000 people) to 2022 (33.6 per 100,000).
- Cocaine has increased at a rate of 6 percent per quarter on average since 2016 and was present in a record high 60 percent of opioid-related overdose deaths in the first three months of 2023 for which a toxicology report was available.
- Alcohol was present in 29 percent of toxicology reports in the first quarter of 2023, benzodiazepines in 24 percent, prescription opioids in 11 percent, amphetamines in 10 percent, xylazine in 7 percent, and heroin in 4 percent.
- Males comprised 72 percent of all opioid-related overdose deaths in the first nine months of 2023.
- 47 percent of all opioid-related overdose deaths in the first nine months of 2023 were among people aged 25-44.
- Naloxone was administered in 97 percent of acute opioid overdoses treated by Emergency Medical Services during the first nine months of 2023.
Overdose Prevention Centers
The report on safe injection sites supports findings in a previous report in 2019 by the Massachusetts Harm Reduction Commission. In its executive summary, its says, “Thirty years of research show that OPCs reduce overdose and improve drug user health, increase access to addiction treatment programs, reduce public drug use and syringe litter in neighborhoods, and are cost effective.” DPH “has concluded that the establishment of OPCs in supportive communities is an evidence-based, valuable harm reduction service that could be feasible in Massachusetts pending legislative action to extend state-level legal protections.”
The report ultimately concludes that “The success, cost effectiveness, and life-saving ability of OPCs has been proven in Europe, Canada, and now in New York City,” and calls for changes in law to provide state-level legal protection for the sites and continued investment in harm reduction drop-in centers and Overdose Prevention Centers.
The following data includes all Worcester County municipalities and communities with over 20,000 residents statewide. Entries with blank percentage are due to one of the divisible numbers being zero.
