Mass. pols nab nearly $60M to fight opioid crisis statewide

The state Department of Public Health and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe will share in nearly $60 million in federal grant money to fight opioid addiction statewide.

The money will come from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Democratic U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, joined by all nine members of the state’s U.S. House delegation, said Monday.

The funding also includes support for opioid reversal drugs such as naloxone, as well as medications for opioid use disorder, the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

“The opioid crisis is indiscriminate in the impact it has on communities across Massachusetts, but the most effective solutions are driven by the communities on the frontline, living through the devastation that addiction and overdose can cause,” Markey said in a statement.

The funding announced Monday “will fuel strategies for prevention, expanding access to treatment, and providing holistic care that puts people’s health and dignity first. In short, this funding can help save lives,” Markey continued.

Federal data released in 2022 revealed that over 48 million people experienced substance use disorder in the past year, but only a quarter of those in need of substance use disorder treatment services received them, the lawmakers said.

The state’s death rate from opioid overdoses dropped for the first time since 2017 this year, but the number of deaths remains worryingly high, MassLive previously reported.

Preliminary data released by the state Public Health Department in June showed that, from 2022 to 2023, there was a decline in the death rate to 30.2 from 33.5 per 100,000.

That corresponded to 232 fewer confirmed and estimated deaths — the largest single-year drop in deaths caused by opioid overdoses in 13 years.

Both the death rate and number of deaths are 10% lower than in 2022, according to the state.

"The opioid crisis is something we feel deeply across this country, especially in Massachusetts,” Warren said in the joint statement.

U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, D-3rd District, offered a similar sentiment, noting that "every community here in Massachusetts and across our nation has been impacted by the immense grief and hardship caused by the opioid crisis.

“The disease of addiction is a battle that no family should have to bear alone,” Trahan said.