Mass. Drug-Related Deaths Hold Steady

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health's latest data on drug overdose deaths is encouraging.

For the first time in a decade, the number of fatal drug overdoses did not increase over the previous year. Six-hundred and thirty-seven people died from drug overdoses in 2007 — the same as in 2006.

"We're very cautious that one year does not a trend make," says Michael Botticelli, Director of Subtance Abuse Services. "But we are cautiously optimistic that some of the strategies that we have implemented are beginning to take hold."

In past years there have been double-digit yearly increases in drug overdose fatalities, mostly heroin related.