DRUG OVERDOSE
Maine, and the nation at large, has seen a dramatic uptick in drug overdoses during the pandemic era as well. In 2021, fatal overdoses surpassed a staggering 100,000 in the United States. In Maine, all drug-related emergencies have become more common. Statewide distribution of the overdose-reversal drug Naloxone, also known as Narcan, doubled in the first half of 2022, after steadily increasing over the previous two years.
Over 2020 and 2021, Maine recorded 1,136 total drug overdose deaths, 58% greater than the 2015-19 quarterly baseline. Though the opioid crisis is not a new public health issue—the last decade saw a tripling of yearly drug deaths—it has reached unfathomable levels in the last two years. Among all 50 states, Maine has the 9th-highest rate of death by drug overdose.
To put this in perspective, over 2020 and 2021, Mainers under age 40 had more than 17-times-greater risk of dying from a drug overdose than from COVID-19. Those aged 40 to 59 had nearly-triple the risk of death from an overdose. Only for those at least 60 years of age and older did COVID-19 pose a greater risk. If one looks critically at how COVID deaths were counted, it is possible that the risk for younger Mainers from COVID is even less.
Sadly, this trend has not slowed down in the first half of 2022. January through June 2022 saw 9.7% more fatal overdoses than the same time period a year in 2021, according to the “Maine Monthly Overdose Report” put together by the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and funded by the state Attorney General and Office of Behavioral Health.
Since the age groups in Maine drug overdose data do not overlap exactly with CDC provisional mortality data, this analysis assumes that 80% of the drug overdoses reported by those over 60 were under 65, likely a conservative estimate since those who succumb to a drug overdose are more likely to be younger. Drug overdoses accounted for about half of the excess mortality experienced by Mainers aged 15-64 through 2020. Even though overdoses shot up even higher over 2021, so did overall mortality, so it accounted for much fewer of those prime-aged Mainers’ early deaths in 2021.