The federal government is providing $4 million to help four medical organizations in Maine fight the state’s opioid crisis. The state said 127 people died of drug overdoses in the first quarter of 2020, an increase of 23% from the previous quarter.
opioids
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Lewiston Police couldn’t help dope-swallowing dog, but there is a hotline to call
LEWISTON — At about 7 p.m. Tuesday, a woman rushed into the police station lobby on Park Street requesting a dose of Narcan. The woman wasn’t asking for herself, as it happens: her pet dog had swallowed some oxycontin and she was worried the animal would die from an overdose. As of Wednesday afternoon, the […]
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Posted inMaine, News, Politics
Health groups propose statewide network of ‘low-barrier’ drug treatment clinics
The pilot proposal, which carries a price tag of $920,000, comes at a time when drug overdose deaths appear to be rising again despite efforts to tackle the problem.
Posted inMaine, News
High-dose opioid prescriptions fall sharply in Maine
Much of the decrease appears to have occurred since a law limiting such prescriptions began to take effect in 2017.
Posted inNation / World, News
Fifteen percent of pharmacies handled nearly half of all opioid pills nationwide
By the time Clinton County coroner Steve Talbott arrived at the scene of an overdose in southern Kentucky, the bottles of prescription pain pills usually had vanished. Friends and relatives of the dead rarely had answers to Talbott’s questions: What kind of pills did they take and where did they come from? A toxicology report […]
Posted inNation / World
Boom in overdose-reversing drug is linked to fewer deaths
The United States is in the midst of the deadliest drug overdose epidemic in its history.
Posted inThe Penobscot Times
Maine doctors writing fewer opioid prescriptions
Since 2013, Maine opioid prescriptions have fallen by 41.5 percent, according to recently released statistics.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine Crime, News, sj-web
Two men arrested after suspected heroin death in Auburn
AUBURN — Authorities on Monday charged two men with drug trafficking after a 29-year-old man on Riverside Drive died from an apparent heroin overdose Sunday morning. An investigation by Auburn detectives and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency led police to search the home of Kevin M. Camp, 41, at 26 Fifth St. in Auburn, where […]
Posted inBusiness
Oxycontin complicates Sackler legacy
The painkiller’s role in the deadly opioid crisis is bringing the Sacklers a new and unwanted kind of attention.
Posted inThe Penobscot Times
American Red Cross launches First Aid for Opioid Overdoses course
The American Red Cross has launched First Aid for Opioid Overdoses – an online course to teach people how to respond to a known or suspected opioid overdose. “An opioid overdose is a life-threatening emergency,” said Patricia Murtagh, CEO of the Maine Region of the American Red Cross. “When you suspect an opioid overdose, it’s […]