Sen. Collins cites Sorg at HELP committee hearing about fighting the fentanyl crisis

At a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions about the federal response to the fentanyl epidemic, Maine Senator Susan Collins cited the work of Marcella Sorg, research professor in the Department of Anthropology, Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and Climate Change Institute. Collins noted that Sorg called Maine’s overdose epidemic “the worst it’s ever been,” as a record high 627 Mainers died of fentanyl overdoses in 2021, a 9% increase over a comparable period of last year. Kemp Chester, a senior policy advisor for the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, responded that Sorg is “an incredible professional and understands this issue better than just about anybody,” to which Collins agreed. Collins also noted Sorg’s work in a press release about the hearing.