Leaders of local overdose prevention programs say that increased access to naloxone and education around how to use the overdose-reversing drug has been one of the biggest reasons behind the decline in opioid overdose deaths in Boston.
In 2025, there were 120 opioid overdose deaths in the city, the lowest number in a decade, according to new data from the Boston Public Health Commission. This is a 29% drop compared to 2024 and a 56% drop compared to 2023 when fatal opioid overdoses peaked at 272 deaths.
The decline seen in the city mirrors one seen statewide. Nationally, the number of overdose deaths has gone down but the drop in Massachusetts has been faster.
Peter Ducharme, director of programs at Bridge Over Troubled Waters, which serves people between the ages of 14 and 24, said it’s become much more common for the young people they serve to carry Narcan (the most common brand of naloxone) with them.
“We know that naloxone is life-saving …. especially when you may be around other people that are using opiates,” said Ducharme. “Now that people have a supply that they’re carrying with them and are also just more aware of the signs of overdose, I think those are some of the main factors contributing to people responding to overdoses more.”
In 2025, Boston distributed nearly 35,000 doses of naloxone, the most in a single year in city history. Naloxone was distributed through BPHC programming like AHOPE, street outreach work and new interventions including public health vending machines and naloxone kiosks, according to the Boston Public Health Commission.
In 2024, the Boston Public Health Commission awarded $1 million in grants to five community organizations, including Bridge Over Troubled Waters, in neighborhoods with the highest overdose rates to expand prevention efforts and connect more individuals to treatment.
“They [the five organizations] also trained individual residents as well as businesses in overdose prevention, and they distributed more than 5,000 doses of naloxone,” said Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, the city’s commissioner of Public Health. “That investment I think was very important to the results that we’re seeing.”
Ducharme said a portion of the grant to Bridge Over Troubled Waters went toward training young adults how to use Narcan; reversing overdose, including CPR; using xylosine and fentanyl testing strips; and a public health vending machine.
“We have a free vending machine on site that has basically three different types of products around overdose prevention, so that’s Narcan and the fentanyl/xylosine testing strips,” said Ducharme.
Unintentional drug overdose is one of the leading causes of early death in Boston and disproportionately affects Black and Latino communities, according to the Boston Public Health Commission’s Live Long and Well population health equity agenda.
Black and Latino residents account for nearly 37% of Boston’s total population, but they accounted for approximately 48% of all overdose deaths in 2025. Among Black residents, fatal overdoses on average declined by 65% in 2024 and 2025 compared to 2023.
Greg Davis, executive director of Metro Boston Alive, said while the number of overdose deaths has collectively declined, they haven’t leveled off in the Black community.
Davis said for this to change, there needs to be more investment around substance use disorder in the Black community.
“Folks have got to understand cultural sensitivity,” he said. “They have to understand that you can’t just treat the symptoms — you’ve got to treat the whole family. Everyone’s impacted by the substance use disorder of a family member.”
While the continuing downward trend is promising, the Boston Public Health Commission wrote in a statement that the numbers underscore the need for additional community-informed interventions tailored to meet the needs of Boston’s Black and Latinx communities.
Davis said he agrees that more access to treatment and Narcan has contributed to the decline in overdose deaths. He adds that Metro Boston Alive, which has also received a portion of $1 million in grants, has also hosted workshops on using Narcan.
“I had them [outreach workers] go to the different area stores, liquor stores, sub shops, anywhere and introduce themselves, give them Narcan and invite them to a workshop we would do,” he said. “We’ve also given it [Narcan] to the folks that are still out there … so I think those kinds of things have been helpful.”
