Republican Journal cites Waldo County drug statistics compiled by Sorg
The Republican Journal included 2016 Maine drug overdose death figures in an article about how after some hesitation, Belfast’s police chief is preparing to equip officers with the opioid antidote Narcan. The state attorney general’s office reported there were 372 drug overdose deaths in 2016, 317 of which were caused by at least one opioid. The data, which was compiled by Marcella Sorg, an anthropologist and research professor with the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine, also found there were five drug overdose deaths in Waldo County last year, according to the article. To help combat the epidemic, the state attorney general’s office offers Narcan free of charge to law enforcement agencies, and currently the office distributes the drug to 45 agencies across the state, The Republican Journal reported.