Overview
In Massachusetts, over 20,000 people have died from drug overdoses in the last 20 years, driven in recent years in large part by an increasingly contaminated drug supply. Current and historic policies that put people who use drugs further at risk- such as the policing of drug use, the housing affordability crisis, and limited access to effective drug treatment- have caused this overdose crisis to disparately impact communities of color, gender minorities and other historically marginalized populations2.
Many of these deaths could have been prevented if people using drugs had better access to lifesaving tools such as the overdose reversal drug naloxone, safer use supplies, and medications for opioid use disorder such as methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone.
Our aim is to increase access to these tools using both a community- and data-driven approach.
Goals
- Increase equitable access to and reduce stigma through overdose prevention education and supplies, including naloxone and fentanyl test strips, for people who are at risk for experiencing and/or witnessing an overdose particularly BIPOC.
- Increase access and eliminate barriers to culturally responsive and gender affirming care including medications for opioid use disorder and other evidence-based strategies for people at risk for overdose.
- Increase access to gender-specific and/or culturally responsive services for populations at high risk of overdose including clinical, peer-led and community-based initiatives.
Data
The Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS) dashboard reports on substance use outcomes, harm reduction services, and BSAS program enrollments – providing a comprehensive overview of substance use related consequences and service utilization across the state. The dashboard has two parts – the Community Profile and BSAS enrollments page.
The Community Profile provides specific city, town, and county-level snapshots of substance-related deaths, emergency events, and services, while the BSAS Enrollments page reports on individuals who received services for substance use disorders, broken out by geography, fiscal years, and demographic characteristics.
The Community Profile was developed to address data needs of communities receiving Opioid Remediation and Recovery funds. This dashboard allows communities to access opioid and other substance use indicators, and a comparison of those indicators with county and state data. The information included in the current community profile is useful for community planners who are responsible for service planning; it allows them to assess risk levels and access to services for members of their community. The dashboard also allows communities to track change within each indicator category of deaths, emergency events, and addiction related services.
The BSAS Enrollments Dashboard incorporates almost all demographic information collected by BSAS. Recent reports of health disparities in opioid-related outcomes among Massachusetts Black, Hispanic and American Indian residents make it clear that indicators should be broken down by demographics. This provides a more refined profile of populations at the highest risk of adverse outcomes. It is our goal to include race/ethnicity, gender, and age data, wherever available, in future enhancements of the BSAS Community Profile.
Community Engagement
Our goal is to place voice of the community at the center of everything we do. In doing so, community members can help drive data-informed decision-making including accessing and utilizing information about what types of activities we fund and where. We believe this results in better health outcomes and increased equity.
While we continue working toward integrating community partnerships across our work, some of the ways we have already begun to put this into action include:
Office of Community Health and Equity (OCHE)
BSAS has established a team of staff dedicated to developing meaningful relationships with communities we want to better serve, by listening to their needs and helping facilitate bureau efforts to respond accordingly. This team centers identity-based needs in its efforts to focus its attention on those most disproportionately impacted by substance use.
Community Grantmaking and Capacity Building:
BSAS currently funds three distinct community grantmaking and capacity building projects:
1. Led by a fully BIPOC community advisory board, Redefining Community Wellness is a BSAS-funded community grantmaking and capacity building initiative specifically focused on funding and supporting BIPOC-led and serving community-based organizations.
2. Collective UpLIFT, an extension of Redefining Community Wellness, provides transformational leadership development and other capacity building including substance use subject matter expertise to BIPOC-identifying leaders of grassroots community organizations.
3. With funds from the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund (ORRF), BSAS partners with RIZE Massachusetts to offer an ongoing community grantmaking program overseen through the Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership, or MOSAIC. MOSAICsupports municipalities and non-profit agencies in remedying harms caused by opioid manufacturers and pharmaceutical industries. MOSAIC also offers training and technical assistance to municipalities. The statewide Opioid Settlement Fund Dashboard lets you explore how ORRF funds are being used by municipalities across Massachusetts.
Community Advisory Boards Consultant Bodies:
Situated within OCHE, BSAS contracts two Community Advisory Boards, the Transgender and Gender Expansive Community Advisory Board (TGE CAB) and Catalyst for Advancing Racial Equity (CARE) Board, comprised of individuals with lived and professional expertise related to substance use and intersecting priority populations. Board members add invaluable perspective and work on intensive deliverable-based projects within the scope of each CAB.
To further engage additional community members, OCHE launched the Living Expertise Advisory Pool (LEAP), a statewide body of individuals with lived experience and/or professional skills available to partner with BSAS staff on short-term projects as a method of integrating community voice. CABS and LEAP serve as a vehicle for compensating community members for their expertise and perspective to help us address specific priority areas.
Understanding and Supporting BIPOC Needs:
BSAS has also partnered with UMass Boston's four ethnic institutes and their respective advisory boards to conduct focus groups that have informed their current work co-designing culturally responsive community education materials related to substance use and available resources.
List of Partners
- BSAS Harm Reduction Advisory Council
- BSAS Trans and Gender Expansive Advisory Board
- BSAS Catalyst for Advancing Racial Equity Board
- Living Expertise Advisory Pool
- Redefining Community Wellness Advisory Board
- University of Massachusetts Boston Institute for New England Native American Studies (INENAS)
- University of Massachusetts Boston Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy
- University of Massachusetts Boston William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black History and Culture
- University of Massachusetts Boston Institute for Asian American Studies (IAAS)
- Health Resources in Action
- RIZE Massachusetts
Additional Resources
Bureau of Substance Addiction Services ¿– BSAS oversees the statewide system of prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery support services for individuals, families, and communities affected by substance addiction.
Massachusetts Substance Use Helpline - Funded by the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS), the Helpline provides the public with resource information about harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services for Substance Use Disorder available in Massachusetts and a warm hand off to these programs when needed.
Grayken Center for Addiction Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) - Boston Medical Center (BMC) Grayken Center for Addiction TTA offers education, support and capacity building to community health centers and other healthcare and social service providers on best practices caring for patients with substance use disorders.
Exploring Community Knowledge Study (ECKS)-¿ ECKS is a state-funded, mixed-methods project that collects a variety of information on an annual basis from community members about overdose, drug use, access to harm reduction supplies, prevention practices, and treatment options across Massachusetts.
Safe Spot - A 24/7 free virtual spotting services hotline. The hotline is managed by paid operators with lived and living experience with overdose and drug use.
Massachusetts Drug Supply Data Stream (MADDS)-¿Brandeis University’s Opioid Policy research Collaborative (OPRC) oversees MADDS, a partnership with local community programs, health departments, and police departments to collect samples from the drug supply with the goal of better informing public health, public safety and policy responses. MADDS data gets reported into StreetCheck, a community-partnered database of samples collected from the drug supply.
Naloxone Program Locator - This program locator shows the location addresses, services provided, hours of operation, and contact information of harm reduction programs in Massachusetts. Naloxone programs can provide access to a variety of resources, including naloxone, syringes, fentanyl test strips, and other safer drug use supplies.
Syringe Services Programs - Syringe services programs offer access to and disposal of sterile syringes and injection equipment; vaccination, testing, and linkage to care and treatment for infectious diseases; and linkage to substance use disorder treatment.
Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution Programs(OEND) - OEND programs offer a variety of health and safer drug use supplies to prevent the injury, illness, and death associated with drug use. Programs offer access to a variety of supplies and services including naloxone, drug supply testing, wound care, and referrals to care.
You Can – An online resource for community members to access the tools they need to reverse overdose and save lives. Created in collaboration with local harm reduction partners, these powerful resources enable people to know what puts someone at risk of overdose death and have the skills to prevent it; recognize the power of rescue breathing; and learn how to carry and use naloxone.
Recovery Education Collaborative - Hosted by Baystate Community Services, the Recovery Education Collaborative (REC) provides all training for Recovery Coach credentialing.