NASHUA – New monthly lows for suspected opioid overdoses were recorded in both Nashua and Manchester.

American Medical Response (AMR) Regional Director Chris Stawasz said this is for all months. Stawasz said it is down across the board for just about everything. The reason why there have been two consecutive months of low statistics remains unclear.

“I think it’s a lack of supply, is my theory,” Stawasz said.

April continues the downward trend AMR has been reporting since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic began raising concerns across the state in March. March 2020 had previously marked the lowest number of suspected opioid overdose calls since officials began tracking them in 2015. Now, with these recent statistics being reported, April is now the new low.

In Nashua there were 11 suspected opioid overdoses during April – a new monthly low. Just last year in 2019, there were 24 in April.

In Manchester there were 24 suspected opioid overdoses during April – also a new monthly low. In 2019, Manchester experienced 50 in April.

There were no fatal opioid overdoses recorded in Nashua for the month of April, compared to two in 2019.

Manchester experienced one fatal opioid overdose for the month of April, compared to seven in 2019.

Stawasz believes once the supply gets reestablished the demand is going to return. By way of example, Nashua had five overdoses over this past weekend alone between Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“We had 11 in April and then boom, in a three-day span we have five,” Stawasz said. “So it tells me right away that there’s more supply available.”

While officials are taking this lower number as a win, Stawasz does not believe it is going to change the overall situation in that there is still a large amount of substance use disorder in the community that is going to have to be and continue to be dealt with.

Adam Urquhart may be contacted at 594-1206, or at aurquhart@nashuatelegraph.com.

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