Washington Post, Forecaster quote Sorg in articles on drug addiction
Marcella Sorg, a research professor with the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine, was quoted in a Washington Post article about a Falmouth, Maine family’s painful experience with heroin addiction. The article focused on a 29-year-old man who died of an overdose at his parent’s home after briefly getting clean. The man died from an overdose of heroin cut with fentanyl, an opiate that in its legal, prescription form is used to treat post-surgery pain, according to the article. Fentanyl was found in 11 of Maine’s 57 heroin overdose deaths last year, according to Sorg, an epidemiologist who is a consultant to the state on drug issues. In its powdery, synthetic, illegal form, fentanyl has been showing up in overdoses around the country. When addicts ingest heroin laced with fentanyl, they consume a more intense dose than they had anticipated, the article states.
Sorg also spoke with The Forecaster for the article, “Portland drug addiction, overdose rates exceed the rest of Maine.” Sorg, who has been reviewing overdose data provided by the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner since 1997, said the state’s increasing problem with opioids is complex and worse in Portland than the rest of the state. The number of overdose deaths in Maine increased 18 percent from 176 in 2013 to 208 in 2014. When Sorg began compiling data, 34 overdose deaths were reported, according to the article. Sorg’s data through 2014 shows Portland and Cumberland County recorded 21 percent of the state overdose deaths and 22 percent of overdose deaths due to at least one pharmaceutical opioid, the article states. When measuring deaths caused by illicit drugs including heroin or cocaine, the percentage increased to 33 percent, Sorg said.