The Bay State is contemplating a proposal to make doses of the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan accessible in any respect MBTA stations, with one state senator saying the life-saving drug ought to be “as common as fire extinguishers.”
The proposal provided by State Sen. John Keenan would broaden on a pilot program that started in the summertime of 2024 and noticed the set up of naloxone — the generic title for Narcan — at 5 Purple Line stations.
In keeping with Keenan, who testified in favor of his invoice at a Joint Committee on Transportation listening to on Tuesday, there might be little question that the drug’s availability results in lives saved.
“This bill looks to expand on the Red Line law and make it apply to all four subway lines,” Keenan instructed his legislative colleagues. “You just don’t want to see anyone die in our transit system.”
The invoice — referred to as An Act directing the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to put naloxone in subway stations — would do exactly as it’s named and require that every one MBTA stations have at the very least two “freestanding unalarmed naloxone boxes” every containing two “units of 4 milligram intranasal naloxone spray.”
“Frankly, I believe every bus and commuter rail car should have naloxone. It should be available as much as possible. It should be as common as fire extinguishers and light bulbs,” Keenan mentioned.
The proposal would additionally require the packing containers to be checked and restocked every day, to have close by flyers explaining how naloxone is run, and for the MBTA to report again on this system not more than 18 months after its implementation.
A line within the state’s fiscal 2024 spending plan put aside $95,000 to ascertain the authentic Purple Line program as a pilot, and Keenan mentioned {that a} report was as a result of Transportation Committee on the outcomes of this system by Sept. 1. That report has not been filed with the committee but.
The MBTA, he mentioned, has additionally not absolutely complied with the 2024 legislation’s necessities to put in Narcan in any respect its Purple Line stations, as a substitute limiting the drug’s availability to Quincy Middle, Ashmont, Andrew, South Station, and Harvard stations.
Keenan inspired his colleagues on the Transportation Committee to “exercise oversight authority” and demand the MBTA clarify why they haven’t complied with the legislation.
A spokesperson for the MBTA didn’t return a request for remark relating to Keenan’s assertions.
When this system was launched in 2024, MBTA Basic Supervisor Phil Eng mentioned that it was clear that Narcan “saves lives” and that the MBTA was becoming a member of a number of different nationwide transit companies in a White Home sponsored initiative.
“We are proud to lead the way as one of the six transit entities that have joined the White House’s ‘The Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose’ initiative. Given the role our stations play in the communities with the thousands that traverse them, it makes them ideal pilot locations to include as part of this project,” Eng mentioned in 2024.
In keeping with Keenan, the Bay State noticed practically 3,400 overdose deaths in 2023.
The next yr the quantity fell to 1,336, in response to Division of Public Health knowledge. Boston alone noticed a decline within the variety of deaths of 38% from 2023 to 2024, representing the bottom price of overdose deaths seen since 2015.
In keeping with the Facilities for Illness Management, drug overdoses have grow to be disturbingly extra frequent up to now 20 years, “with the number of deaths increasing approximately 520% from 1999 to 2023,” however that the pattern appears to be reversing.
“New preliminary data predicts 76,516 drug overdose deaths for the 12 months ending in April 2025. This is a 24.5% decline in U.S. overdose deaths compared to the previous year,” the CDC studies.
Whereas these numbers signify a constructive pattern, Keenan mentioned, they may very well be lowered additional just by increasing the provision of life saving naloxone.
