Fatal drug overdoses in Rhode Island declined for the first time in five years, with similar dips in other New England states, according to data released Wednesday by the state Department of Health.
Rhode Island overdose deaths last year fell about 7 percent. In Massachusetts, overdose deaths last year dropped 10 percent; Connecticut reported an 8 percent decrease. Nationwide, overdoses fell 3 percent.
Opioids and fentanyl continue to drive the overdose epidemic in Rhode Island, the state Department of Health reported. Last year, 85% of overdoses involved opioids; 78% involved specifically fentanyl.
In Rhode Island more than half of fatal overdoses — 58% — also involved cocaine, the state data show.
The mix of fentanyl with stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine is what experts call the national opioid epidemic’s “fourth wave.” And the mixture is challenging efforts to reduce overdoses, because many users of stimulants don’t know they are at risk of ingesting opioids. And people who think of themselves as stimulant users are less likely to take overdose precautions or enroll in addiction treatment programs designed for opioid users.
The rate of overdose deaths among Black Rhode Islanders decreased by 11% in 2023, while the rate for Hispanic residents fall about 6% and the rate for White people remained roughly the same as in previous years. The decline followed a nearly 50% increase in the rate of overdoses among Hispanic residents from 2021 to 2022. The overdose rate among Black Rhode Islanders remains higher than that of White or Hispanic Rhode Islanders.
Black Rhode Islanders who overdosed also were less likely to have ever received treatment for substance use than White or Hispanic residents, according to state data presented at a meeting Wednesday of the Governor’s Overdose Prevention Task Force. About 84% of the Black people who died of a drug overdose between January and June of 2023 had “no evidence of treatment,’’ the state reported, compared with 74% of Hispanic people and 70% of White people, the data shows.
Persistent racial disparities in overdose deaths and addiction treatment needs more attention in Rhode Island, Monica Tavares, co-chair of the Overdose Task Force’s racial equity working group, said at the meeting. “We’ve been working and trying to advocate for several years now around the availability of treatment for stimulant use” impacting people of color, she said. “And we really need to start acting.”
Woonsocket recorded the highest rate of fatal overdoses last year, as in previous years, followed by Providence, Pawtucket, East Providence, Cranston and Warwick.
“We are working in every city and town in Rhode Island to make life-saving resources available in the areas of prevention, treatment, harm reduction, rescue, and recovery,” Dr. Jerry Larkin, the state’s new health director, said in a statement. “Every single overdose death is preventable. Recovery is within reach for every person living with the disease of addiction. We need to keep coming together as families, as communities, and as a state to continue reducing the number of drug overdose deaths in Rhode Island.”
The decline in fatal overdoses follows increases in the availability of the opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone, known as Narcan. In Rhode Island, naloxone is distributed by nonprofit groups at homeless encampments and in Kennedy Plaza in Providence. And last March, Narcan became available for purchase over-the-counter at pharmacies nationwide
All New England states reported declines in fatal overdoses in 2023. The declines (from biggest to smallest) were:
- Maine: 16.2%
- New Hampshire: 11.7%
- Massachusetts: 9.8%
- Connecticut: 8.3 %
- Rhode Island: 7.3%
- Vermont: 4.1%
- U.S.: 3%
Health reporter Lynn Arditi can be reached at larditi@thepublicsradio.org
Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified the race of residents who experienced a nearly 50% increase in the rate of overdoses from 2021 to 2022.
