Maine opioid overdose deaths decreased in 2018 but epidemic remains ‘public health crisis’

The number of opioid-related overdose deaths in Maine likely decreased in 2018, but the number of deaths connected to cocaine and methamphetamine is expected to rise, the attorney general’s office announced Friday.

The total number of fatalities due to drugs in the first three quarters of 2018 was 282, a drop of 5 percent from the 297 deaths reported in the same time period of 2017.

Totals for 2018 have not been finalized but the projected number of opioid deaths in 2018 related to pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical opioids is predicted to decrease by 13 percent for a total of 307, compared to a peak of 354 deaths in 2017.

The new report compiled by Dr. Marcella Sorg of the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center comes two days after Gov. Janet Mills signed an executive order outlining immediate steps her administration will take to combat an opioid crisis that continues to claim more than one life each day to overdose. The $1.6 million order will include purchasing 35,000 doses of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone to be distributed across the state; integrating medication-assisted treatment into the criminal justice system, including jails and prisons; and creating a statewide network of 250 recovery coaches, including 10 full-time coaches assigned to hospital emergency rooms, who will guide people as they navigate their own struggle with substance use disorder.

“Though we obviously welcome the slight reduction, the fact remains that the opioid epidemic is a public health crisis which is tearing apart Maine families and communities,” Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a prepared statement. “Our office recognizes the urgency of this crisis, and I am committed to working in a collaborative manner with Governor Mills, the Legislature, and all relevant agencies and community leaders to turn this crisis around by finding and implementing real solutions.”

Frey said the high number of fatal overdoses in the state continues to be driven by non-pharmaceutical fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, which caused 173 deaths in the first three quarters of last year. Still, the projected total of 231 fentanyl deaths is down about 6 percent from 2017, according to the report, which used data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The number of pharmaceutical opioid deaths is projected to decrease by 29 percent and heroin deaths are anticipated to drop 17 percent from 2017, according to the report.

Drug overdose deaths have been rising steadily in the U.S. for several years, but prior to last year, the increase had been more acute in Maine than most other states.

Between 2013 and 2014, when the crisis first took hold, overdose deaths increased from 179 to 208 – the third-highest increase in any state. The following year, 272 Mainers died from overdose, again putting the state near the top for increases behind only New Hampshire, North Dakota and Massachusetts.

From 2015 to 2016, Maine saw another major increase, 35 percent, bringing the total to 378 deaths. That ranked Maine 6th among all states for annual percent increase and well above the nationwide increase of 21 percent.

And in 2017, there were a record 418 overdose deaths, an increase of 20 percent over the prior year, 7th among states and double the 10-percent increase nationwide.

The upward trend may finally be reversing, but the numbers remain historically staggering.

While Maine is seeing decreases in heroin and fentanyl deaths, there are projected increases in the number of deaths related to cocaine and methamphetamine, according to the report. The report said cocaine is increasingly being found mixed with fentanyl and heroin.

The state estimates the number of deaths from cocaine last year was 95, an increase of 4 percent from 2017 and 58 percent from 2016. Cocaine is mixed with fentanyl in 32 percent of fentanyl deaths and 35 percent of heroin deaths.

The projected number of methamphetamine deaths is 21, which is higher than the two previous years.