Last year two people in Brookline overdosed on opioids, according to a new report by the state. That number is down from the three who died in 2015, although those numbers are still being confirmed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
There were no reported opioid-related deaths in 2012, but one in 2013 and one in 2014.
The Brookline Fire Department records indicate that the life saving medication Narcan was administered six times to reverse the effects of heroin drug overdoes so far this year by their department. Last year they had to use it 12 times and in 2015 they deployed it 13 times.
The Brookline Police also use it, and one officer noted it had been deployed three times in one day earlier this year, though the statistics were not yet available.
Brookline Police Department officials said they’ve been working hard through programs in schools to make sure children understand the seriousness of the epidemic.
“[Drug abuse] is not just a crime, we’re looking at it as a public health emergency,” said Deputy Superintendent Michael Gropman.
By comparison, in neighboring Newton there were 17 reported deaths, up from seven the year before and six in 2014. Boston topped the charts with 196 opioid related deaths in 2016, up from 150 the year before and 70 in 2012.
This table, Town by Town Listings May 2017, lists the confirmed all intents opioid-related overdose deaths that occurred to residents from each community in Massachusetts between 2012 and 2016.
