In 2019, the Massachusetts Military and Veteran Drug Overdose Deaths data sheet identified 90 overdose deaths (along with 67 suicide deaths), with most involving multiple substances:

• 92 percent involved opioids, compared to 15 percent of suicides;

• 59 percent had 2–5 substances and 27 percent had more than five substances;

• 47 percent involved cocaine; and

• 37 percent involved alcohol, compared to 29 percent of suicides.

Veterans with fatal overdoses in 2019 were just over age 50 on average (10 years older than non-veterans). Around 43 percent had a known mental health condition (compared to 52 percent of veterans who died by suicide). 

Veterans who overdosed were more likely to have been diagnosed with PTSD, to have alcohol involved, and to die at home compared to non-veterans.

From 2013 to 2021, Massachusetts veterans were three times as likely to have a nonfatal overdose, accounting for 12 percent of 72,018 residents experiencing one or more of 133,295 documented nonfatal overdoses. 

An estimated 8,640 veterans had a nonfatal overdose during this period (an average of 960 veterans each year). 

For every fatal overdose, there were an average of nine nonfatal overdoses from 2013 to 2021. Among all Massachusetts residents with a nonfatal overdose:

• 77 percent were diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD);

• 72 percent were diagnosed with a mental health condition; 

• 65 percent were diagnosed with a mobility disability;

• 55 percent had experienced homelessness;

• 47 percent had less than a high school education; and

• 39 percent had experienced incarceration.

In 2020, based on Community Health Equity Initiative Data, veterans were more likely than nonveterans in Massachusetts to report past month: 

• alcohol use (55.7 vs. 49.2 percent) and

• non-medical cannabis use (15 vs. 13.5 percent). 

Veterans were less likely to report past month or past year medical cannabis use (5.8 vs. 6.4 percent and 6.5 vs. 7.4 percent) or past year non-medical cannabis use (16.8 vs. 17.7 percent).

Veterans were three times as likely to report past year non-prescribed opioid use (2.1 vs. 0.7 percent) and using opioids not as prescribed (1.8 vs. 0.5 percent) and were more more likely to report past year heroin use (1 vs. 0.5 percent) and/or fentanyl use (1.1 vs. 0.4 percent).