Drug overdose deaths in Maine jump to 127 in first quarter of 2020 - Press Herald

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Over the first three months of 2020, 127 people in Maine died from drug overdoses, a 23-percent increase over the final quarter of 2019.

Additionally, state officials fear that a preliminary analysis of data from April and May, shortly after the coronavirus pandemic gripped Maine, show a continuation of that trend.

“The opioid epidemic remains a crisis requiring our immediate, sustained attention,” Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a statement Friday announcing the latest numbers. “The data in this report confirms that the crisis has intensified nationally in the midst of the global pandemic. It remains clear that combating the pandemic, strengthening our public health infrastructure, and taking steps to ensure that Mainers are connected with resources in their community are efforts which are linked with one another.”

Although things could change, the AG’s office said that preliminary estimates for the second quarter of 2020, which ran from April through June, project 235 overdose deaths for the first half of the year. If those numbers hold, that would mean 470 deaths in a year.

So far during the opioid crisis, the highest yearly death total in Maine was 417, in 2017.

“Every number in this report is the life of a loved one lost. We grieve with the families, employers and communities diminished by this devastating public health crisis, a public health crisis now made worse by a pandemic that is limiting access to life-saving services and increasing isolation for people in recovery,” said Gov. Janet Mills in a statement.

Gordon Smith, Maine’s opioid response director, said in a statement that the “alarming increases in overdose deaths, which mirror a nationwide trend, are evidence that we must continue to do more.”

“Next week at the governor’s Opioid Response Summit, we will examine the state’s efforts to confront the opioid epidemic, discuss steps to increase and improve access to remote recovery services during the pandemic, and recommit to serving all those who have been affected by substance use disorder in the state of Maine.”

Last year, there were 380 deaths attributable to overdose, which was a slight increase over the previous year. Before 2018, the number increase each year for seven consecutive years, going from 155 in 2011 to 417 in 2017.

Health officials have worried that the forced isolation brought on by the pandemic, coupled with economic uncertainly, was a recipe for disaster for those with substance use disorder.

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