Augusta task force advocates for substance use recovery readiness Officials say the coronavirus pandemic has left more people isolated who have turned to increasingly dangerous opiates. Share AUGUSTA — With projections showing more people died of drug overdoses in Maine in 2020 than ever before, leaders of a substance use task force told city councilors Thursday Augusta needs to become a recovery ready community. Leaders of the recently-formed Ad-Hoc Substance Use Task Force Advisory Committee, who expect to finalize their goals next week, said opiate use has spiked in the city, state, country and the world, and the problem became worse as people struggled through the coronavirus pandemic and its restrictions which left many people isolated and vulnerable.