The Dearborn Department of Public Health says there’s been a decrease in overdose deaths in the past two years. 

Chief Public Health Officer Ali Abazeed says launching the public health department played a role in the decline.  

“We’re seeing a nearly 60% decline in overdoses in the city of Dearborn that’s directly correlated with a lot of our public health efforts,” he says. Last year, there was a 36% decline in overdose deaths. 

Abazeed says the department supplies free Narcan overdose reversal medicine at several locations and works to raise awareness about substance abuse disorder in the city.  

“Those place-based specific interventions, like the ones that we have in Dearborn again, whether it’s our very visible Narcan distribution sites, or whether it’s their community trainings, we’re seeing trends in Dearborn that are outpacing the national average,” he shares.

Narcan reverses an opioid overdose, potentially saving people’s lives.    

Abazeed says the department also distributed about 500 fentanyl test strips, close to 300 xylazine test strips and more than 7,000 units of Narcan last year.

He says the department is seeing sustained declines across the state, while the city’s declines in overdose deaths are far outpacing the statewide and national averages. 

Abazeed says the Dearborn Department of Public Health will continue to spread the word about utilizing life-saving measures to prevent overdose deaths. 

Free Narcan can be picked up from vending machines at the John D. Dingell Transit Center, the East Parking Deck at West Village Drive, the Wagner Parking Deck, and the Islamic Center of Detroit.