Narcan use, community resources, cut overdose deaths in Dearborn, city officials say
Drug overdose incident and overdose death numbers both have dropped noticeably in Dearborn, Michigan, with city officials citing a range of public health services and solutions in making the difference.
"This is what it looks like when local government takes public health seriously," Dearborn Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud said in Wednesday's announcement. "We approached the opioid crisis not with stigma or shame but with action, compassion, and data-backed solutions. We're proud of this progress—and we're only getting started."
Specifically, the city is reporting:
- Number of overdose incidents: Down 34% with 93 during 2023 and 61 in 2024.
- Number of overdose deaths: Down 43% with 14 during 2023 and 8 in 2024.
City officials said this "meaningful reduction" is the "first sustained decline in both overdose events and deaths since the opioid crisis was declared a national public health emergency in 2017."
"Fewer people are dying because we've treated this crisis with urgency—and with dignity for the people we know, love, and live alongside," said Ali Abazeed, Dearborn's Chief Public Health Officer.
The Dearborn Department of Public Health's efforts since spring 2022 to address opioid and substance use issues include creating a Narcan vending machine program, providing free emergency overdose medication at locations across the city. The Dearborn initiative under the Michigan Naloxone Direct Portal was the first of its kind in the state.
The vending machine outreach is in addition to providing Narcan kits at community events and explaining the use of such overdose mediation.
City officials said about 10,000 units of the naloxone medication known as Narcan has been distributed in the past two years.
The city also has a co-responder program, provided in partnership with the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), in which a licensed substance abuse counselor responds with Dearborn Police on some emergency calls.
"We have addressed this issue head-on utilizing multiple tactics, from providing lifesaving measures during calls to our co-responder program, and together with available public health resources, we'll continue working to maintain this positive trend," Issa Shahin, Dearborn Chief of Police, said.
