Sorg’s Maine drug death analysis cited in Fosters.com article on clinic closure

In a report on the closing of an outpatient opiate addiction treatment center in Sanford, Fosters.com cited an analysis released by the Maine attorney general’s office and conducted by research professor Marcella Sorg. The study found drug-induced deaths in Maine rose from 176 in 2013 to 208 in 2014, an increase of 18 percent, according to the article. The increase was due largely to a rise in deaths from heroin/morphine and fentanyl, a synthetic opiate that is 40 to 50 times stronger than heroin, the article states.