Opioid-Related Overdose Deaths Falling In Massachusetts

click to expand

BOSTON (AP) — Opioid-related overdose deaths are continuing to fall in Massachusetts.

A report released Monday by the Department of Public Health found that the 1,470 estimated and confirmed overdose deaths in the first nine months of 2017 represented a decline of about 10 percent compared to the 1,637 deaths in the first nine months of 2016.

Related: Opioid Recovery Resources

It's the second quarterly report estimating a decline.

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker said that while the report is encouraging, there are still too many people in Massachusetts dying from opioid-related overdoses.

The report found fentanyl continues to be a major factor fueling the crisis.

Fentanyl seized by police from a Northborough storage facility in June 2017. (Photo Courtesy: MA Department of Justice)

The rate of fentanyl present in the toxicology of opioid-related overdose deaths continues to rise, even as the rate of prescription opioids and heroin present in opioid-related overdose deaths continues to fall.