Overdose deaths down in Rhode Island for the first time in four years

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Officials announced Wednesday that Rhode Island saw its first decrease in overdose deaths in four years.

According to the Rhode Island Department of Health, 32 fewer people died from drug overdoses in 2023 than in 2022, down to 404 deaths.

That number lines up with the national trend, as overdoses were down 3% across the United States over that same span.

The new data from RIDOH shows Woonsocket and Providence saw the highest rate of deadly overdoses.

“One of the hardest things is to get inside the homes,” Catherine Schultz, Director of the Overdose Taskforce, said. “So that is where, I think as a state, and with our community partners we should be looking at that, and look at all of those avenues that are touching and knocking on doors.”

While state leaders say most of the data is encouraging, they are continuing their work to make resources available.

“We’re expanding things, but we really need to have any pathway to recovery,” Linda Mahoney, Administrator at Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals, said. “Not just a pathway that may have worked for one individual [or] two individuals, but we have to look at any pathway.”

Since 2020, the state has reached multiple settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors, totaling more than 300 million.

That money was used, in part, for the state’s first safe injection site, which opened this fall on Willard Avenue, next to Rhode Island Hospital.

People who buy drugs use them under professional supervision at the site.

Officials provided a full list of the Overdose Task Force’s initiatives, and a page of resources for support, treatment, and recovery can also be found online.