Massachusetts Opioid Deaths Decline Slightly For 2nd Straight Year

click to expand

BOSTON (AP) — State health officials say the number of people who died from opioid-related overdoses in Massachusetts has fallen for a second consecutive year.

The report issued Wednesday by the Department of Public Health also shows that fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, was present in nearly nine of 10 deaths in 2018. The presence of fentanyl in toxicology reports has been rising steadily for five years.

Fentanyl. (WBZ-TV)

There were 1,617 confirmed opioid-related overdose deaths in 2018 and as many as 394 suspected deaths. The department says that's a 4 percent drop from the number of confirmed and probable deaths the previous year.

Fatal overdoses declined 2 percent from 2016 to 2017.

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker called the reduction in deaths encouraging, while adding that the opioid epidemic remains a "very serious challenge" in Massachusetts.