Maine Has Already Exceeded 2015 Total of Overdose Deaths

The Maine Attorney General says the number of drug overdose deaths in the state through September already exceeds the total number for 2015.

Attorney General Janet Mills says 286 Maine residents died of drug overdoses through the first nine months of this year. The total for 2015 was 272. The 2015 total was a record at the time.

Mills says the increase is mainly due to illegally manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs. She says the number of deaths due to other drugs is also increasing.

Mills also says nearly two thirds of the deaths are due to illicitly manufactured opioid drugs, including heroin, either alone or in combination with other drugs.

Nearly two thirds are also due to at least one pharmaceutical drug alone or in combination with other drugs. —AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)