Maine reported a 16% decrease in fatal drug overdose deaths in 2023, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was one of the largest decreases in overdose deaths of any other state in the nation last year.
State officials said the Opioid Response Strategic Action Plan played a role in that success by making the overdose-reversal drug naloxone more available, and increasing the number of treatment beds, recovery residences and community centers across the state.
The plan also placed behavioral health liaisons in all 16 counties, and launched messaging to educate the public about the dangers of fentanyl, the most common ingredient in a fatal drug overdose.
Fatal drug overdoses were lower this past January and February as compared with 2023. But March had 52 fatal drug overdoses as compared with 41 last year, an increase of nearly 27%.
In a statement, Gordon Smith, Director of Opioid Response in Maine said, "Although fatal overdoses in Maine may have lessened over the past year, Maine people are still losing too many friends and family members to substance use disorder and highly lethal drugs like fentanyl. In partnership with many organizations, advocates, businesses, schools, hospitals, and people from across Maine, we will remain diligent and dogged in our efforts to prevent people from using drugs, connect people to recovery, and importantly, help keep people alive.”
View the state's Opioid Response Strategic Action Plan here.
