Maine set a new record for drug overdose deaths again last year as the synthetic opioid fentanyl continues to take a deadly toll in the state.
According to unofficial figures released Thursday, 716 people died of drug overdoses last year. That's roughly 13 percent higher than the previous record of 631 deaths set in 2021. And once again, the powerful synthetic fentanyl appears to be driving the overdose crisis as the drug or related compounds were detected in 79 percent of last year’s overdose deaths, based on data compiled for the Maine Attorney General’s Office. That is up slightly from 2021, illustrating both the increasing prevalence of fentanyl on Maine streets – often in combination with other drugs – and its danger to users.
“We are committed, in partnership with Maine’s remarkable community of recovery advocates and volunteers, to work together to help every person in Maine with substance use disorder enter recovery, find treatment options that work for them, and most important, stay alive,” Gordon Smith, Maine’s director of opioid response, said in a statement. “This opioid epidemic today is more lethal than ever due to illicit drugs like fentanyl, which is responsible for eight of every 10 overdose deaths in Maine. We will use every avenue available to support all Maine people, families and communities affected by the opioid crisis, and bring resources for prevention into every community and school in our state.”
The data shows that fatal overdoses increased monthly during the latter part of 2022, culminating with 75 deaths in December alone. And the percentage of reported overdoses statewide that resulted in death ticked up slightly, a fact potentially linked to the lethality of fentanyl. There were 10,110 drug overdoses reported to the state in 2022, 7.1 percent of which resulted in a fatality. In 2021, by comparison, 6.5 percent of the 9,678 total overdoses were lethal, according to the report compiled for the AG’s Office by Marcella Sorg, Daniel Soucier and Abby Leidenfrost at the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center.
The Mills administration has worked to expand access to the overdose reversal drug naloxone or Narcan, distributing more than 276,000 doses that have been used to reverse more than 7,000 overdoses since 2019, according to figures provided by Mills’ office. But naloxone was only administered by a bystander, a police officer or a medical profession in 25 percent of the fatal overdoses last year.
Working with the Legislature, the Mills administration has spent millions of dollars to increase access to drug treatment programs statewide. But drug overdose rates and deaths continue to increase, both in Maine and nationally.
The bulk of last year’s deaths occurred in the state's most populous counties: Cumberland, York, Penobscot and Androscoggin.
“Worsened by the growing presence of deadly fentanyl, the scourge of addiction continues to reach into every corner of our state – rural and urban – robbing us of our friends, family and loved ones and harming our communities, our people, and our future,” Mills said in a statement. “My heart breaks with every life lost to a drug overdose, and my Administration will not rest until we reduce this number to zero. We will continue to work with advocates, the recovery community, and lawmakers to tackle this epidemic, to prevent addiction, to help more people access treatment and recovery, and to save lives.”