A statewide spike in suspected, non-fatal drug overdoses last week — 55 in all — triggered the threshold for a public alert from the Rhode Island Department of Health for the first time in three years.
For the period between March 10 and March 16, there were 55 people who received emergency department care for what appeared non-lethal overdoses, the health department said in a press release Wednesday.
The health department’s benchmark for a public overdose alert is 55 overdoses. So far in 2026, Rhode Island has averaged 41 non-fatal overdoses a week, placing last week’s numbers well above the recent standard…