MA Saw A Drop In Overdose Deaths In 2023. What About Barnstable?

BARNSTABLE, MA — Massachusetts saw the biggest year-over-year decline in opioid deaths in two decades last year, but Barnstable's numbers didn't match that trend.

Massachusetts opioid overdose deaths increased every year between 2019 and 2022, reaching an all-time high of 2,357 in 2022. An estimated 2,125 died in 2023, and deaths over the first three months of 2024 were trending lower than in previous years, the state Department of Public Health said Wednesday.

In Barnstable, however, 34 people died from opioid overdoses in 2023, matching the total from 2022.

It also marks the second-highest number of opioid deaths in Barnstable since 2016, topped only by 35 deaths in 2018.

State officials attributed the reduction to increased investments in treatment programs and housing, the distribution of nearly 200,000 naloxone overdose kits and increasing access to medications to treat opioid-use disorder. The state has focused its efforts especially on people living in rural areas and in communities of color.