As the opioid epidemic rages on, preliminary data for 2022 shows a slight decrease from last year’s record high opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts, though overdoses remain high compared to the last two decades.
The rate of opioid-related overdose fatalities in the state increased 11 percent between 2020 and 2021. The first nine months of 2022 so far show an estimated 1.5 percent decrease compared with the same time period in 2021, according to the Massachusetts Public Health Council’s biannual opioid report released Wednesday.
In the first nine months of this year, there were 1,696 confirmed and estimated opioid-related overdose deaths. That’s about six deaths every day, but it’s also about 25 fewer deaths than in the first nine months of 2021. Read More…