Mass. Senate considers invoice to position Narcan in any respect MBTA stations
Native Information
The invoice seeks to increase a pilot program that put in naloxone at 5 Crimson Line stations.
The Massachusetts Senate is contemplating a proposal so as to add naloxone – a life-saving treatment that may reverse overdoses – in any respect MBTA stations, in an effort to deal with the state’s opioid disaster.
The invoice, S. 2398, was petitioned by Sen. John Keenan in February, and seeks to increase a pilot program that started in the summertime of 2024 to put in naloxone – generally referred to by its model title, Narcan – at 5 Crimson Line stations.
At a Joint Committee on Transportation listening to on Tuesday, Keenan (who represents a number of South Shore communities, together with Braintree and Quincy alongside the Crimson Line) mentioned it’s essential that naloxone be accessible in any respect MBTA stations, not only a choose few.
“You simply don’t wish to see anyone die in our transit system,” he mentioned, including that the presence of naloxone in transit hubs needs to be “as widespread as hearth extinguishers [and] lightbulbs.”
The invoice proposes inserting naloxone in any respect MBTA Blue, Inexperienced, Orange, and Crimson subway stations. Every station would have two freestanding, unalarmed naloxone containers containing two models of four-milligram intranasal naloxone spray. The containers can be monitored day by day and flyers can be posted across the field with details about naloxone and directions on tips on how to use it.
The laws would additionally set up an oversight system to observe the effectiveness of this system by requiring the MBTA to file a report with the Senate and Home of Representatives analyzing the advantages and prices of this system. The T was required by regulation to file a report on the Crimson Line naloxone program by Sept. 1, however has not but accomplished so, Keenan mentioned.
As well as, Keenan has proposed a separate invoice (S.1551) to ascertain a belief fund to financially help naloxone distribution within the state.
Massachusetts had 2,387 overdose deaths in 2023, Keenan mentioned. The subsequent yr, the variety of opioid-related overdose deaths fell to 1,336, in response to the state’s Bureau of Substance Habit Companies dashboard. Boston had 171 overdose deaths in 2024, a 39% lower from the yr prior, the dashboard exhibits.
Regardless of the strides made to scale back the variety of overdose deaths, Keenan mentioned the state shouldn’t cease preventing to deal with the opioid disaster.
“Whereas these numbers have shifted and are dropping, we are able to’t let up – and naloxone was a giant a part of that drop in numbers,” he mentioned on the listening to.
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