The opioid epidemic is putting immense pressure on Maine’s child welfare and education systems

In half of all cases in Maine in which a child is removed from the home, an Office of Child and Family Services investigation identified the parent or caregiver's substance use a risk factor.

‘What we’re really dealing with is a trauma epidemic’: Multiple resources needed to address opioid crisis

Recovery advocates want to see a move toward trauma-informed recovery and state officials and lawmakers are looking at how the child welfare system is uniquely positioned to help.

As state tightened opioid access, illegal drug trade created a deadly new era in Maine’s opioid crisis

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.

A work injury and a prescription. One Maine woman’s story of the cycle of addiction

Nikole Powell’s father developed an opioid use disorder after a work injury, a dependence that traumatized his family and eventually led to his incarceration and death. His daughter is trying to break the cycle.

‘Lucky to be alive right now’: Rumford man credits doctors, awareness, luck for avoiding addiction

Like many patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain, Todd Papianou, a high school teacher from Rumford, knows the thin line between life-saving and life-destroying medication.

Data Sheet: Confirmed drug deaths

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

Data Sheet: Prescription distribution

The Sun Journal analyzed data from Maine’s Prescription Monitoring Program from 2016 to 2021; and data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System from 2006 to 2014.

At the root of an epidemic in Maine: a prescription pad

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.

Data Sheet: Fatal and nonfatal overdoses 2017-2021