UMaine data analyzed in Sun Journal report about drug deaths
The Sun Journal featured University of Maine data in a sweeping report about opioid drug deaths in Maine. The Sun Journal analyzed annual confirmed drug death counts, from 1997 through September of 2021, using data from drug death reports from the Rural Drug and Alcohol Research Program at the University of Maine Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and the Office of the Maine Attorney General, as well as data supplied by Marcella Sorg, research professor at the Department of Anthropology, Climate Change Institute and Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center. The report found that in 1997, a year after Purdue introduced OxyContin, 16 Mainers died from pharmaceutical opioid-related overdoses, while fewer than 10 people died from opioid-related overdoses every year during the decade prior. Between 1997 and September of last year, 2,359 Mainers have died from a pharmaceutical opioid-related overdose. Last year, an estimated 632 Maine people died from fatal drug overdoses, the deadliest year on record, representing a 23% jump in deaths over 2020. UMaine researchers say there are multiple reasons for the growth in the number of deaths, including the fact that people aren’t aware illicit drugs can be laced with the highly lethal synthetic opioid fentanyl and the fact that under pandemic conditions, people are often using drugs while they are alone and no one is around to call for help or administer naloxone. Centralmaine.com shared the Sun Journal report.