Press Herald Cites Sorg’s Analysis of Maine Drug Deaths in Article on Center’s Closure

A Portland Press Herald article on the closing of a substance abuse recovery center in Westbrook mentioned an analysis released by the Maine attorney general’s office and conducted by Marcella Sorg, a research professor of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine. Mercy Hospital plans to close the center in part because of low reimbursement rates for addiction services, according to the article. The analysis found Maine residents who died of drug overdoses in 2014 hit a record number of 208 — an increase of 18 percent over the previous year. The drugs involved ranged from cocaine to heroin and other opioids, and the number of heroin deaths jumped from 34 to 57 in 2014, the article states.