Fatal ODs in Mass. rising
The number of people in the U.S. who died of a drug overdose in 2018 declined from the previous year — the first decrease in more than a decade — while the number of overdose deaths in Massachusetts increased, the Addiction Policy Forum said Thursday.
In 2018, there were 67,367 drug overdose deaths nationally, 4.1% fewer than in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But in Massachusetts, the number of such deaths rose from 2,168 to 2,241 over the same period, the Addiction Policy Forum in Bethesda, Md., said.
Jessica Hulsey, who founded the forum after losing both of her parents to heroin addiction, attributed the overall decrease to greater access to treatment and awareness of the perils of drug use, but she warned against complacency.
“Nationally, we’re still losing 185 people a day. That’s like a plane crash every single day in America. That is an unacceptable loss of life,” Hulsey said. “Unfortunately, in states like Massachusetts, we’ve seen an increase in the prevalence of fentanyl.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid pain reliever that is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Two milligrams of the drug — the equivalent of a few grains of salt — is considered a lethal dose, said Timothy Desmond, a DEA spokesman.
Although overdose deaths overall decreased from 2017 to 2018, the ageadjusted rate of drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, such as fentanyl, increased by 10% from 2017 to 2018, according to the CDC.
Louise Griffin of Lowell, whose 21year-year-old son died of a drug overdose in 2013, said many addicts who buy on the black market think they’re getting pain relievers such as Percocet or Oxycodone but are actually getting fentanyl.
“We are at a point where we have to look at our prevention and early intervention efforts,” Hulsey said. “If the age at which you start using your first substance is before 17, your adolescent brain is so much more susceptible. Unfortunately, we’re seeing younger people because of the availability of vaping.”
Phil Lahey, the former head of the
Merrimack Valley Prevention and Substance Abuse Project, said the decrease in the number of overdose deaths in the U.S. is likely due in part to the availability of Narcan, which can help reverse an opioid overdose.
Drug addiction, Lahey said, “is more of a mental disease than a physical one.” His daughter started using alcohol and pot and eventually worked her way up to heroin, he said. Now 43, she has been in recovery for nearly 12 years.
“But she knows if she stops going to meetings or talking to her sponsor, she would relapse,” Lahey said. “If we would put half the effort into prevention and education that we do in curing a disease that’s incurable, then we might be able to start making some headway.”