More than 47,600 Americans died of opioid overdoses last year, a toll that has been rising for two decades.
opioid epidemic
Posted inLocal & State, News
USM’s Muskie School joins others in effort to bring medication-assisted opioid treatment to jails
The group is competing for a grant that would pay to go statewide with the program, which is considered the ‘gold standard’ to help those with substance use disorder.
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Posted inLocal & State, Politics
Trump administration funding formula causes Maine to lose out on millions in federal opioid money
Because officials used older data, the state missed a key cutoff, and funding dropped precipitously.
Posted inLocal & State
Maine increases payments to providers treating opioid use disorder
Treatment experts applaud the move, but say it took the LePage administration too long to make significant investments in expanding treatment, given the severity of the opioid epidemic.
Posted inNation & World, News
Bloomberg Philanthropies will give $50 million to fight opioid epidemic
Bloomberg Philanthropies says over the next three years it’ll help up to 10 states address the causes of opioid addiction and strengthen prevention and treatment programs.
Posted inNation & World
Suicide, overdose rates driving U.S life expectancy down
Overall, there were more than 2.8 million U.S. deaths in 2017, or nearly 70,000 more than the previous year, according to the CDC.
Posted inCops & Courts, Health, Local & State, Maine Crime, News
Lewiston police tell mobile needle exchange program to halt distribution
The program, which its founder calls the Church of Safe Injection, is violating a state law that prohibits people from distributing hypodermic needles, police say.
Posted inLocal & State
Activists hang banners calling for safe injection site in Maine’s largest city
Portland OPS is calling on city officials to open a facility where people can inject drugs under medical supervision, which they say reduces overdose deaths.
Posted inLocal & State, News
In this church, salvation comes with a clean needle or heroin overdose antidote
Operating in a legal gray area, the mobile needle exchange program brings needed supplies and a message of hope to people struggling with substance use.
Posted inMaine Voices, Op-Eds, Opinion
Maine Voices: Church of Safe Injection treats drug users as Jesus would have done
He would have offered them sterile syringes, naloxone and nonjudgmental support.