Overdose deaths of Black Bostonians dropped significantly in 2024. Here’s why

By Hadley Barndollar | HBarndollar@masslive.com

This article appeared on MassLive on June 24, 2025. Visit this site to see the original.

Photo: Shanna Person-Johnson is a substance use community engagement coordinator at Codman Square Health Center. Hadley Barndollar

Drug overdose deaths among Black Bostonians fell by nearly 60% in 2024, halting a years-long rise in mortality.

A broader adoption of harm reduction strategies and outreach workers striving to reach the unreachable were the reasons behind the lifesaving turnaround, according to Shanna Person-Johnson, substance use community engagement coordinator at Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester.

“Boots on the ground,” she said. “People that are going into the trenches behind Walgreens, opening the broken fences because they know there is an encampment back there. Having conversations with people and letting them give you a hug.”

Massachusetts and the country as a whole have seen drops in overdose deaths of white people. However, Black communities have experienced a different trajectory.

In 2023, Black men and women in Massachusetts had the highest rates of opioid-related deaths, compared to a 16% drop in the death rate of white men.

Older Black men have been hit particularly hard. Between 2017 and 2023, the rate of deadly overdoses among Black men over 55 rose 242% statewide.

In contrast, 2024 data from the Boston Public Health Commission showed a 59% decrease in opioid-related mortality for Black men and a 58% decrease for Black residents overall. In 2023, 104 Black Bostonians died of a drug overdose. In 2024, the number was 44.

Person-Johnson said the downturn is significant, but emphasized that Black, Indigenous, and Latino populations are still struggling.

Lois Frazier lost one son to a drug overdose in 2022 and has another son who is currently living on the streets in Boston and addicted to drugs. She actively checks on him to make sure he’s “still breathing.”

Frazier, who is in recovery herself, believes the roots of the drug crisis lie in centuries of oppression of Black people in the U.S., including slavery and segregation.

“The system has led us to this,” she said.

Community health workers say the drop in deaths indicates that Boston’s harm reduction approach is having an impact.

Harm reduction tools include naloxone (an opioid antidote), fentanyl test strips, and syringe exchange programs. These methods aim to minimize harm without requiring abstinence.

Michael Curry, president of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, said that due to structural racism, some communities face greater exposure to addiction and less access to care. Stigma can also be more prevalent, requiring culturally competent and empathetic care.

“We can do it, but it can’t be done in isolation,” Curry said. “It has to be done with intentionality and a sense of urgency with those most impacted forming the strategy.”

Person-Johnson said addiction can be generational and that in Black communities there is often reluctance to seek help.

“The Black population doesn’t look at mental health as mental health,” she said. “We just deal with it. That’s what we have to undo.”

Dr. Devin Cromartie Bodrick, a psychiatrist at Boston Medical Center and First Lady of Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, said outreach work must address the full spectrum of needs, from hygiene to housing.

“We’re way more likely to get people into care and to stay in care when they know you are caring for the totality of their personhood,” she said.

The Boston Public Health Commission attributes the decline in deaths to a combination of efforts:

• Over 23,000 naloxone doses distributed through outreach, vending machines, kiosks, and grants.

• Over 25,000 outreach engagements and more than 2,000 treatment placements.

• A clinic inside the Commission’s recovery services building recorded 2,700+ visits since June 2024.

• Federal funds supported substance use navigators at community health centers.

Curry noted that 90% of Massachusetts community health centers now offer office-based addiction treatment, which includes behavioral health, recovery coaching, harm reduction, and housing connections.

Boston has 27 community health centers, some with multiple sites.

“The community health centers have shown tremendous progress,” Curry said. “The outcome is fewer deaths.”

At Upham’s Community Care in Dorchester, adding a substance use navigator and dedicated nurse has made a major difference.

Boston has also integrated housing support. Over the last three years, nearly 850 individuals experiencing substance use disorder have been served, and more than 270 placed into permanent housing.

Boston Medical Center is piloting a program with two churches in Roxbury and Milton to help Black churchgoers address mental health and race-based trauma.

“Whenever you pull spiritual aspects into this, it really can illuminate it for people,” Cromartie Bodrick said.

Person-Johnson praised outreach workers who represent harm reduction respectfully and without judgment. As part of her work at Codman Square Health Center, she walks through Dorchester neighborhoods making connections with those in need.

She noted how a simple act — handing out small washcloths — generated deep appreciation.

“Being able to hold a person’s hand and say, ‘Hey, I’m not judging you. What can I help you with?’ I’m meeting you where you are,” she said.

She added that many outreach leaders today are people who, years ago, did not have access to harm reduction, yet now hold advanced degrees and professional licenses.

“These are the people that I feel really need to be recognized,” she said. “Not for recovery, but for what recovery can look like. People memorize the numbers of those in addiction, but what about our people who came out? That’s what people need to see.”