Overview
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose is a leading cause of injury mortality in the United States1. Here 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 lifesavings tools such as the overdose reversal drug naloxone, safer use supplies, and medications for addiction treatment 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 addiction treatment 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 misuse outcomes, harm reduction services, and BSAS program enrollments – providing a comprehensive view of substance misuse 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 what types of activities we fund and where. We believe this results in better health outcomes and increased equity.
While we still have work to do towards truly achieving a community-driven approach in our work, some of the ways we have already begun to put this into action include:
Office of Community Health and Equity
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 is currently funding two 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. With funds from the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund, BSAS is in the process of establishing a new community grantmaking program that will support municipalities and non-profit agencies in remedying harms caused by opioid manufacturers and pharmaceutical industries.
Community Advisory Boards:
BSAS has also begun to develop a series of topic- and population-focused Community Advisory Boards, 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 will inform the development of culturally responsive training opportunities for the BSAS workforce and the general public.
List of Partners
- BSAS Harm Reduction Advisory Council
- BSAS Trans and Gender Expansive Advisory Board
- BSAS Youth & Young Adult Services Racial Equity Advisory Board
- 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.
Rapid Assessment of Consumer Knowledge (RACK) - Funded by CDC & MDPH BSAS, RACK, is a brief, mixed methods research approach to gain insight into local challenges and responses to the opioid crisis as shared by the people who use drugs there
Safe Spot - (formerly known as the Massachusetts Overdose Prevention Helpline) is a 24/7 free virtual spotting services hotline. The hotline is managed by paid operators with lived and living experience with overdose
Street Check - STREETCHECK, a community-partnered project at Brandeis University’s Opioid Policy research Collaborative (OPRC), is an innovative community-partnered project to develop and standardize sample collection, analysis, and reporting to help people who use drugs better understand what substances are in the drugs they use
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
You Can – An on-line 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