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Worcester takes step toward opening overdose prevention center pilot, would be first in Massachusetts
The city's Board of Health approved the creation of an overdose prevention center as a pilot program on Monday night, but the city's next steps are unclear.
Worcester’s Board of Health unanimously voted to support an overdose prevention center — where people could use pre-obtained drugs under supervision — as a pilot program.
The board — comprised of four members — heard from health experts during their Monday night meeting, where they discussed how OPCs can prevent overdose deaths, which are at a record high in Massachusetts.
The Board of Health officially voted: “to support the reduction of overdose deaths in the city, the Board of Health approves the creation of an overdose prevention center as the first pilot program in the city of Worcester pending legal approval of the state.”
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OPCs — also known as safe consumption sites or safe injection sites — are federally illegal. Massachusetts Department of Health Bureau of Substance Addiction Services Director Deirdre Calvert, who spoke to Worcester’s officials, said there is no state law blocking its creation.
The Board also heard from Brown University epidemiologist and researcher Brandon Marshall and University of Massachusetts Chan School Professor Kavita Babu.
It’s unclear what Worcester’s next step would be, but there would be permissions needed from local officials. Gary Rosen, a Board of Health member and former Worcester city councilor, said there should be a public hearing next.
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Rosen said around 15 years ago, he and other councilors voted against a needle exchange program, which he called one of his worst votes.
“Most of the City Council just weren’t ready to do that. We were scared,” he said. “I don’t know how many people passed away, how people died because of the vote that I took, and several city councilors took, but there certainly were people who did pass away, who did die.”
OPCs outside of Worcester
DPH released a feasibility report in December calling the centers “evidence-based harm reduction facilities” where people struggling with addiction could use drugs under professional supervision and receive care to reduce fatal overdoses, infectious diseases, and skin infections.
Internationally, these centers have existed for more than 30 years, and no death has ever been reported at one, the report said.
In the United States, the first such center was created in New York outside of state laws in 2022. An OPC in Providence, Rhode Island — set to open this summer — is the first one to be state-sanctioned.
This move makes Worcester the first municipality in the commonwealth to officially approve a safe injection site pilot despite wide-spread support for the concept.
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