Deirdre Calvert, director of the state’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, says the federal administration is wrong when it claims that the nationwide decrease in opioid-overdose related deaths has been due to tougher criminal enforcement.
As for evidence of that claim, she points at the results here in Massachusetts, where a harm-reduction approach has been the focus. For the first time in more than a decade, the total annual opioid-related overdose deaths here fell below 1,000 in 2025, according to the state’s Department of Public Health.
The 27% decline in overdose deaths in 2025 here in the Bay State is double the national average of 14%, according to the American Journal of Managed Care. Just four states saw higher rates of decline: Oregon, which saw a 35% reduction in overdose deaths; North Carolina, with a 34% reduction; New York, with a 32% decline; and Alabama, with a 28% drop.
Calvert credits the decline to harm-reduction efforts like needle exchanges, anti-overdose drugs like Naloxone, and the creation of an overdose prevention hotline.
“Harm reduction is a set of proven strategies that allow people who are not particularly ready to stop using to stay alive,” Calvert said.
The overdose prevention hotline, she said, gives people access to safe spaces. “People can call and ensure that they’re not using alone because we know that 80% to 90% of all overdose deaths happen unwitnessed because nobody else is around,” she said.
She argues that harm reduction is not an endorsement of drug use.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state’s opioid-related overdose deaths declined by 60% since fatal overdoses hit a record high of more than 2,300 in 2022. In 2024, the decrease was 36%.
“We are going down year-over-year, and it’s sustained,” Calvert said.
Woody Giessmann, a certified license addiction counselor, said he’s a strong advocate for medication-assisted treatment.
“I’m in support of anything that is going to help people,” Giessmann said. “I have a policy that I like to work with people who are alive. And that’s why harm reduction can include very important approaches to lower (the risk of) people who typically are at high risk.”
In 2003, Giessmann founded Right Turn in Watertown, a treatment program that served the public for 20 years. He said he was one of the “pioneers” of medication-assisted treatment and served on former Gov. Charlie Baker’s Board of Registry and Medicine. Giessmann said that education and prevention are key.
“Substance use disorder is a deadly disease,” he said. “Opioid and methamphetamine are the hierarchy of this. But let’s not leave behind that I see a lot of alcoholics and people who are using cannabis every day and I’m concerned about that…” he added.
DPH Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said we should celebrate the hard work that brought Massachusetts to this moment and strive to reach zero opioid-related overdose deaths.
“I think we still need to recognize that there were too many deaths here in Massachusetts, right? Every death, every overdose, that’s a person, that someone’s brother or sister, someone’s parent, and we need to continue to do the work.”
Calvert said it’s important to invest in not only recovery support, but also low-threshold permanent housing.
She said society has made addiction a moral issue instead of a medical one and we should never lose sight that behind every data point is a person.
“A quote that I use all the time in some of my talks, because you’re trying to humanize people, is that nobody is a nobody and everybody has somebody, right? Somebody loves this person. They have a favorite ice cream, a favorite pet, a favorite slice of pizza, a favorite movie,” she said.
