Substance Use and Overdose Data

• Bureau of Substance Addiction Services Dashboard: This dashboard provides city/town, county, and state level data on substance-related deaths, emergency events, and substance use services.
• Prescription Monitoring Program: This dashboard shares selected data collected from pharmacies in Massachusetts. It includes these categories of controlled substances prescription medications: Opioid Agonists, Benzodiazepines, Stimulants, Opioid Partial Agonists.
• Schedule II Opioid Prescription Data: This dashboard presents data on individuals receiving Schedule II opioid prescriptions, number of Schedule II opioid prescriptions and solid quantities dispensed, and Individuals with activity of concern. Data can be filtered by county and quarter from 2017 onward and compared to the state.
• Opioid-Related EMS Incidents: This dashboard provides a granular look at opioid-related incidents reported by EMS. It documents all opioid-related emergency medical service events in Massachusetts, defined as 911 calls in which opioids are involved. Not all events are clinical overdoses and not all are nonfatal.
• Drug Checking Data: This dashboard shows data on the presence of different substances found in drug samples tested by Brandeis University’s Massachusetts Drug Supply Data Stream, including both Xylazine and Fentanyl.

• End of the Pilot Program Era (PDF | DOCX) 
  This report summarizes over 10 years of harm reduction data collected by Massachusetts Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution programs.
• Overdose Prevention Research Summit: In September 2024, the Department of Public Health and Brandeis University co-hosted a Research Summit for Massachusetts researchers and policymakers in the field. A summary report and key recommendations can be found on Brandeis' website.
• Data Brief- Characteristics of Non-Fatal Overdose among MA residents 2013-2021 (PDF) | (DOCX): This data brief focuses on the surveillance of non-fatal opioid overdoses where medical treatment was sought by EMS and/or in the hospital.
• Stimulant-Related Data among Massachusetts Residents: This report focuses on the increase in use of healthcare services, overdoses, and deaths involving stimulants. This report provides a baseline picture of stimulant-related overdoses based on data from three sources: death certificates, Emergency Medical Services, and Emergency Departments.
• Touchpoints – Opportunities to predict and prevent opioid overdose: This study finds eight candidate touchpoints that were associated with increased risk of fatal opioid overdose. A “touchpoint” is an opportunity to identify individuals at high-risk of opioid overdose death in order to deliver harm-reduction services to them and engage them in evidence-based treatment.
• Stimulants, health disparities, and the impact of the opioid epidemic on maternal health and high-risk populations: This data brief focuses on health disparities and the impact of the opioid epidemic on maternal health and high-risk populations. These analyses were conducted by academic researchers and public policy analysts in collaboration with DPH.

Reports updated as of June 2024. For the most up to date overdose data, please view our Community Profile dashboard.

If you would like to request additional information about substance use treatment statistics, contact the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services Office of Statistics and Evaluation at DataRequests.BSAS@MassMail.state.ma.us or fill out our data request form.