Media covers drug-related deaths report Sorg compiled

The Associated Press, Bangor Daily News, News Center Maine, Sun Journal and WMTW (Channel 8 in Portland) covered a report compiled by Marcella Sorg, a research professor at the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine, about drug-related deaths in Maine during the second quarter and first half of 2020. According to the report, which Sorg compiled for the Maine Office of the Attorney General, there were 258 drug-related fatalities in the first half of 2020, up 26% from the previous half year, or July–December 2019; and 131 deaths during the second quarter of 2020, up 3% from the first quarter. WABI (Channel 5) WAGM in Presque Isle, Q 96.1, the Houston Chronicle, the Times Union, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Times and Seattle PI shared the AP story. The Ellsworth American highlighted the report in an editorial titled “The other epidemic.”