BOSTON — Although opioid overdose deaths in Massachusetts are down slightly compared to significant spikes in the earlier years of the pandemic, health officials, politicians and others who work in the field agree that this is not a cause for complacency as overdoses remain high compared to the last two decades.
“Though we are finally seeing a decline in deaths from the staggering figures of the last two years, we cannot forget that each number still represents a life lost too soon and devastation for families and communities across the commonwealth,” Julie Burns, president and CEO of the RIZE Massachusetts Foundation, a Boston nonprofit whose mission is to fund solutions to end the overdose crisis, said in a statement. “Though this is not a moment for celebration, it is one for hope.”
At its December meeting, health officials with the Massachusetts Public Health Council discussed the results from a biannual opioid report.
That report showed that the number of opioid-related overdose fatalities in the state increased by 11% between 2020 and 2021. The figures for the first nine months of 2022 showed a slight decrease of 1.5% compared to the same time period last year, with 1,340 opioid-related overdose deaths confirmed or estimated. The state Department of Public Health estimates that that figure will reach 1,696 by the end of the year.
Western Massachusetts is no exception to the statewide opioid crisis. The report shows that in the period from 2010 to 2021, the number of opioid overdose deaths has steadily increased, totaling 1,462 people in Hampden County, 374 in Berkshire County, 324 in Hampshire County and 177 in Franklin County.
Deaths during the pandemic also rose in the region. In Hampshire County, 44 people died in 2021, up from 34 in 2020. In Franklin County, 36 people died in 2021, up from 20 in 2020. Hampden County’s deaths hovered at around 215 in both years.
Since Gov. Charlie Baker took office in 2015, he has signed two laws — An Act Relative to Substance Use, Treatment, Education and Prevention, and An Act for Prevention and Access to Appropriate Care and Treatment of Addiction — that seek to address opioid addiction. As a result, spending on opioid recovery and harm reduction programs has increased across state agencies from $119 million to $597 million in the fiscal year 2023 budget that Baker signed in July.
Although the funding grows, the opioid crisis in western Massachusetts is not diminishing, politicians note.
“I think our treatment systems for substance use disorders are woefully under-resourced across the commonwealth and in the region,” said Rep. Mindy Domb, D-Amherst. “In addition, western Massachusetts suffers from shortages in medical providers, including those who work in drug treatment and urgent care, compounding the lack of access for people who need care.”
Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, said it is important to establish trusting relationships while treating substance abuse. She said the drop-in centers offered by organizations like Tapestry work hard to create relationships where people who use substances know they are in a stigma-free environment.
“We have learned over decades that the war on drugs has failed to stop drug usage, and as a community, we have to lean into harm-reduction to keep people alive,” Sabadosa said. “Establishing safe consumption sites and decriminalizing possession of small quantities would help encourage more people not to use alone, test any substance they use, and have relationships in place to get support when they are ready to stop using. Without those trusting relationships, however, many will continue to use alone and in silence, and we will fail to address the overdose crisis we are currently facing.”
Public Health Commissioner Margret Cooke warned the field’s professionals of a new drug, xylazine, that has started appearing in toxicology screens. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released an alert in November, noting increasing reports around the country of individuals exposed to fentanyl, heroin and other illicit drugs contaminated with the animal tranquilizer.
“While the prevalence of xylazine is relatively low among opioid-related overdose deaths, it is important to be aware of it,” Cooke said. “Especially for first responders who need to continue to give oxygen in addition to naloxone for suspected opioid overdoses as naloxone will not reverse the effects of xylazine.”
Cooke said naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, which rapidly blocks opiate receptors in the nervous system, was administrated in 97% of the acute opioid overdoses during the first nine months of 2022.
The report showed out of 1,340 people who died from the beginning of this year through September in Massachusetts, 961 were men and 379 were women. In addition, 70% of those who died in fatal opioid overdose were white, 15% Hispanic and 11% Black.
Burns, of the RIZE Massachusetts Foundation, said in a statement that she hopes the incoming Healey-Driscoll administration will continue to build on a data-driven and equity-based public health approach that makes prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery services readily available to anyone.
At the same roundtable event in November, Gov.-elect Maura Healey discussed work she’s done as the state’s attorney general suing big pharma for its role in the opioid crisis.
“We’re going to continue to make progress on getting the resources in place to address substance use disorder, to address mental health issues, which we know for far too long in this country just haven’t been given the attention and the resources and the investment that has been needed,” Healey said. “But I think we’ve made great strides as a state to do that.”
Nino Mtchedlishvili writes from the Boston University Statehouse Program.