The number of opioid-related overdose fatalities fell below 1,000 for the first time in more than a decade in 2025, state health officials said Friday, marking a significant improvement since Massachusetts broke a devastating record a few years ago.

There were 978 confirmed and estimated opioid-related overdose deaths among Massachusetts residents last year, the Department of Public Health said. That represents a nearly 27% decrease over the 1,336 deaths in 2024, which also saw a sharp drop in fatal overdoses.

DPH says the declining trend mirrors data unfolding nationally.

“This progress, experienced by families across the Commonwealth as years of extra joy and life, is the result of a comprehensive and collaborative public health response that has prioritized evidence-based care, community partnership, and compassion,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kiame Mahaniah said. “Data show us that providing access to housing, harm reduction, treatment options, and supportive peer communities works to prevent overdose — and the Commonwealth will continue its commitment to supporting and expanding access to these tools and services.”

A 2024 law expanded access to overdose-reversal drugs like naloxone, installed liability protections for providers and organizations offering drug checking services, and established licensure for recovery coaches. The law did not include a Senate-backed provision to legalize supervised injection sites, and proposals to do so this session are before the House and Senate Ways and Means committees.

Overdose deaths, which claimed more 2,000 lives annually between 2016 and 2023, reached a record high of 2,364 in 2022. The last time Massachusetts recorded less than 1,000 overdose fatalities was in 2013, when the opioid epidemic claimed the lives of 992 Bay Staters.

“While a 27 percent decrease in opioid overdose deaths is encouraging and reflects the impact of sustained investments in prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery support, we must never lose sight of the fact that behind every data point is a person — a loved one, a family member, a friend, a neighbor,” Deirdre Calvert, director of DPH’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, saidDPH said it is still analyzing the latest data and will release more insights later this summer about how the decrease is reflected across Massachusetts communities.

In its recent report on overdoses in 2024, DPH offered three hypotheses for that year’s decrease, including a potentially safer street drug supply, fewer people at risk of overdoses, and expanded overdose prevention resources and services. DPH says overdose deaths rose from 2013 to 2022 due to the “increasing and erratic fentanyl concentrations in the drug supply.”

But xylazine, a sedative approved for veterinary use, has become increasingly common in the state’s drug supply between 2020 and 2024.

“One hypothesis is that using drugs containing xylazine may protect from fatal overdose by increasing the length of time that people are sedated after using, therefore decreasing the total number of use events,” the report says. “Another hypothesis is that due to the sedative effects of xylazine, suppliers may reduce the amount of fentanyl in their product.”

Alison Kuznitz is a reporter for State House News Service and State Affairs Pro Massachusetts. Reach her at akuznitz@stateaffairs.com.

A 70-year-old Massachusetts man allegedly tried to drown an injured 21-year-old during a violent clash over a jet ski at a community lake boat ramp in a chaotic, caught-on-camera brawl.

Steven Dana is accused of attempted murder, strangulation, and assault and battery on a disabled person for the alleged attack on Matthew Duffy at Lake Maspenock’s Sandy Beach in Hopkinton, Mass., on Wednesday.

Duffy and his friends were using the boat ramp with their jet ski when Dana, a resident on the lake, became agitated by the noise coming from the motorized craft and attempted to kick the group out of the water, according to a police report viewed by WCVB.

Duffy has been using crutches to get around after he was severely injured in an accident a few months ago.

The group of friends had been recording the interaction with Dana on a GoPro when the older man became increasingly upset during the confrontation with Duffy, according to the video obtained by the outlet.

“Let me have fun with my jetski,” Duffy told Dana, who told the younger man to take the craft to another lake.

Duffy refused and claimed he lived nearby and was allowed to use the lake. Some of the younger lake users began to egg Dana on, saying, “You’re not going to do s–t.”

Dana threatened to call the police “again” before asking if Duffy wanted “me to shoot you.”

The older man walked down to Duffy, who had been standing at the lakeside, and got into the 21-year-old’s face.

“Are you going to beat up a cripple?” one of Duffy’s friends asked the heated man.

“I don’t care, I’ll take a cripple.” Dana said, according to the video.

Dana slapped Duffy across the face before the two grappled each other and fell into the lake, as one of Duffy’s friends drove off with the jet ski.

Dana was filmed allegedly holding Duffy under the water as three other men showed up and separated the pair.

“I was so scared for my life because I can’t fight back, I broke practically everything and this guy’s on top of me under the water, I can’t see what’s going on, I can’t fight back,” Duffy told WCVB.

Both men refused medical attention after the scuffle.

Dana was arraigned in Framingham District Court on Thursday and initially held without bail, but a judge on Friday released him on a $7,500 cash bond, according to NBC 10 Boston.

“I’m fuming that he’s out now. This is insane. He just tried killing me two days ago, and then it’s like, apparently you can just pay bond, and it’s wiped clean,” Duffy told the outlet. “When he toppled on me in the water, there was nothing I could do.”

“He literally came up to me and my friends, and was instantly being aggressive and rude for no reason, in trying to kick us out of a public space,” Duffy said. “We weren’t having it, so we weren’t moving, and then he eventually came down after we were arguing with each other, and then more arguing led to him attacking me and then shoving me in the water, and I needed my friends to help me get up.”