Cambridge committee presses city manager for overdose prevention center readiness plan

CAMBRIDGE -- July 16, 2024, Cambridge Human Services Committee calls for overdose prevention center readiness as opioid deaths persist. The Human Services and Veterans Committee held a two-hour roundtable July 16 on the opioid crisis, pressing City Manager Yi-An Huang to bring forward a "vision zero" plan for overdose deaths and to begin community engagement on siting an overdose prevention center before state liability legislation clears. Cambridge has lost 105 people to overdoses in five years; 31 people died of overdoses in Cambridge in 2023 regardless of residency. The city has allocated $500,000 of an expected $16 million in opioid abatement settlement funds, $200,000 toward a new medical street outreach van and $300,000 for operations, with roughly $1 million per year available through 2038. State DPH Commissioner Robbie Goldstein urged disaggregating death data by race and ethnicity, warning that the statewide 2022-to-2023 drop in overdose deaths was entirely driven by declines among white men, with increases recorded in all other demographic groups. People with lived experience, reading statements through harm reduction advocate Cassie of the Material Aid and Advocacy Program, told the committee that some are responding to five overdoses in 48 hours with no formal support, and asked directly: "When am I going to be able to walk into an OPC?"