Portland police said Tuesday that a man apparently overdosed and died inside a portable toilet that had been set up near the farmers market in Deering Oaks last month.

Lt. Robert Martin said in an email Tuesday night that police are still waiting for the results of a toxicology test, but the man’s death appears to have been caused by a drug overdose. Police are not sure if the man had been using opioids, and they did not identify him.

The man was dead by the time police and emergency crews arrived so there was no opportunity to administer Narcan, Martin said.

“It was during the farmers market so there was a lot of attention,” Martin said. “I can’t say for certain it was an opioid. There was drug paraphernalia present indicating he had recently used an unknown type of drug.”

The incident was reported on April 29, Martin said.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office said the total number of Mainers who died from drug overdoses in 2016 was 376, a 40 percent increase over the 272 drug-related deaths reported in 2015.


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