The state of Maine set another record for drug overdose deaths in 2017. The Maine Attorney General’s Office reported Thursday that 418 people died from overdoses in Maine in 2017, an 11 percent increase over the 376 overdose deaths in 2016. Opioids are still driving a majority of drug-related deaths, with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic, […]
opioids
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Paul LePage says long-delayed opioid antidote rules don’t need his OK
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage said Monday he is opposed to a new law that allows pharmacists to dispense naloxone without a prescription because it gives people as young as 18 access to the overdose antidote. LePage also told a New England Cable News reporter that rules for the new law developed by the Maine […]
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Posted inNation / World
Synthetic opiates drive surge in overdose deaths
The national opioid epidemic escalated in 2016, driven by an unprecedented surge in deaths from fentanyl and other synthetic opiates, according to new data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 42,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses in 2016, a 28 percent increase over 2015. The number of people fatally […]
Posted inMaine
Maine’s opioid crisis task force urges lawmakers to take action in 2018
AUGUSTA — Maine needs to expand access to treatment and prevention programs and do more to stop powerful opioid drugs from being diverted from legitimate uses. It also must raise awareness among youth of the dangers of opioids and increase the number of drug courts if it hopes to stem the opioid addiction crisis that […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine opioid task force ready to deliver recommendations
AUGUSTA — Maine’s Task Force to Address the Opioid Crisis is due to give its recommendations to the Maine Legislature this week. The panel wrapped up its work last week, and is due to deliver its recommendations for combating the drug crisis by Wednesday. The recommendations, which have not yet been released, will focus on […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Roses for the fallen
Shannon Violette of Lewiston places flowers on the steps of Lewiston’s City Hall Monday morning as others, including event organizer Ben Chin, background, sing “Amazing Grace.” Like Violette, most in attendance have lost friends and/or relatives to opioid addiction. The rally was organized to bring awareneness to the crisis with hopes of City Hall creating […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Nationwide deaths from overdoses soared in the first 9 months of 2016
Deaths from drug overdoses rose sharply in the first nine months of 2016, the government reported Tuesday, releasing data that confirm the widely held belief that the opioid epidemic worsened last year despite stepped-up efforts by public health authorities. The National Center for Health Statistics reported that overdose deaths reached a record 19.9 per 100,000 […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Suicide epidemic: Social, economic or both?
Ours is a nation in despair. U.S. suicide rates have surged to a 30-year high, and it’s not just among struggling middle-aged whites. Suicides by girls age 10 to 14 have spiked over the last 18 years. And there’s been a shocking surge in children 17 or under dying from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Since 1999, […]
Posted inNew England, sj-web
How the opioid crisis has created a pollution problem
In this Wednesday June 7, 2017 photo, activist Rocky Morrison, of the “Clean River Project”, holds up a fish bowl filled with hypodermic needles, that were recovered during 2016, on the Merrimack River next to their facility in Methuen, Mass. Morrison leads a cleanup effort along the Merrimack River, which winds through the old milling […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Opioid prescriptions dropped for the first time in the modern drug crisis
The number of prescriptions for opioids written by health care providers declined between 2012 and 2015, the government reported Thursday, introducing a glimmer of progress in efforts to quell the worst drug epidemic in U.S. history. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said prescriptions for highly addictive painkillers such as oxycodone dropped 13.1 percent […]