2 Die In Spike Of Westborough Overdoses In 2022: Police

WESTBOROUGH, MA — Westborough police are alerting residents about a large spike in drug overdoses seen in the town this year after police responded to two overdoses on Thursday at a town shopping plaza.

Since January, police have responded to 12 overdoses, and two have ended in deaths, police said. Westborough has seen more overdoses over the first three months of 2022 than in whole years recently.

Police responded to 11 overdoses with no fatalities in 2021; 10 overdoses with three deaths in 2020; and 10 overdoses and one death in 2019, the department reported. In many instances, first responders were able to administer anti-opioid medicines like Narcan to reverse overdoses.

This week's double overdose happened just before 4 p.m. at the Ocean State Job lot. Police found the two victims with suspected heroin and other drug paraphernalia, they reported. One of the pair was arrested on a charge of possessing a stolen license plate.

Overdose deaths spiked in Massachusetts in 2020 with just over 2,100. But state health officials expected those to drop in 2021. As of the state's last update in November, just over 1,200 people had died due to an overdose over the first nine months of the year. The state estimated Massachusetts would count just over 1,600 overdose deaths by year's end, which would be the lowest number since 2014.