Alcohol Research Program News Today

Fentanyl is sometimes referred to as the "instant death," an official from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services said Friday.

Fentanyl is sometimes referred to as the "instant death," an official from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services said Friday.

While they are not a replacement for residential treatment, recovery homes provide a critical safety net.

Maine lawmakers and health officials realized easy access to prescription opioids was creating dependency issues and clamped down, but did not anticipate how well the illegal drug market would fill the void.

The Sun Journal featured University of Maine data in a sweeping report about opioid drug deaths in Maine. The Sun Journal analyzed annual confirmed drug death counts, from 1997 through September of 2021, using data from drug death reports from the Rural Drug and Alcohol Research Program at the University of Maine Margaret Chase Smith […]

The Sun Journal analyzed annual confirmed drug death counts, from 1997 through September 2021, using data from drug death reports.

Twenty years after Purdue Pharma introduced its pain medication, OxyContin, Maine lawmakers passed a bill that significantly stemmed the flow of pain pills into the state. A Sun Journal investigation found the new restrictions may have been too little, too late: A generation of Mainers were already grappling with substance use disorder and a growing illicit drug trade was ready to meet the demand.

Maine Public cited Marcella Sorg, a forensic anthropologist and a University of Maine research professor at the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, in a story about the record number of overdose deaths in Maine in 2021. According to the station, Sorg, who directs the center’s Rural Drug & Alcohol Research Program and compiles overdose data […]

Health experts attributed the rising death toll to a combination of more lethal drugs and social isolation caused by the pandemic.

A new online drug data hub for Maine, with the potential to improve care, inform policy and ultimately save lives, is the latest impactful tool in response to the state’s opioid epidemic, according to the University of Maine, in a news release...