Media cite Sorg in stories about drug overdose deaths

The Associated Press and WVII (Channel 7) quoted Marcella Sorg, a research professor at the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, in reports on a slight increase in Maine drug overdose deaths for the first three quarters of 2019. Sorg has compiled the state’s drug death data for the Maine Attorney General’s office since 2000. According to her latest report, there were 277 drug overdose deaths in Maine between January and September. More than 80% of the overdoses were the result of at least one opioid, and non-pharmaceutical fentanyl deaths constituted four-fifths of all opioid deaths in 2019, the report said. “The real elephant in the room is still the non-pharmaceutical fentanyl and analogs of fentanyl, sometimes in combination with heroin,” said Sorg. U.S. News & World ReportWHDH (Channel 7 in Boston) and WGAN carried the Associated Press story. WGME included Sorg’s statistics in its story about three-time “Jeopardy” champion Dennis Coffey of Maine talking about the state’s opioid epidemic on the show. The Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier cited Sorg’s report in the article “York County Jail inmates may be offered naloxone upon release.”