Maine unveils heroin epidemic task force

U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty II (Courtesy photo)

PORTLAND, Maine - Maine health and safety officials announced on Thursday the creation of a multi-agency task force that will seek strategies to combat the rising heroin epidemic plaguing the state.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty II, who will be part of an executive panel that also includes Maine Attorney General Janet Mills and Public Safety Commissioner John Morris, said the task force will also include groups focusing on treatment, prevention and law enforcement.

Delahanty stressed there will be a lot of talk and information sharing between the groups, but also said he expected results as well.

"We need to act now,' Delahanty said at a Portland news conference where the task force was unveiled.

Morris said heroin trafficking is taking a terrible toll on the state, adding that 8 percent of Maine births - an average of three newborns a day - are affected by illegal drugs.

He said law enforcement has to target the dealers, not the users.

Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck noted that most of the city's crime and the state's 10 most recent homicides have connections to substance abuse.

While exact numbers weren't available for Maine, officials did note a surge in the number of people who have died from heroin overdoses in the state.

Last month New Hampshire officials said that more than 300 had died from overdoses in their state in 2014 and that this year's deaths would likely outstrip that.

Maine health officials agree that long-term treatment options as well as short-term are critical for helping heroin users.

"It's a chronic illness ... they will live with this for the rest of their life," said Gordon Smith, executive vice president of the Maine Medical Association.

Smith said the problem of reduced health care coverage for treatment has led clinics in Sanford and Westbrook to close.

Delahanty said it might take six months or longer for the task force to show results.

Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, free Narcan kits are already available at health centers statewide, including Somersworth.

Jake Leon, Director of Communications at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, said on Tuesday while he wasn't sure on the number of kits already going out, they were "closely monitoring" supplies to make sure they stay restocked.

"What we're now doing is making these kits available until hospitals and pharmacies make it available," he said.

Frisbie Memorial Hospital announced such a program this week in conjunction with Walgreen's of Rochester to make the kits available for $40-$60 apiece. That program begins Monday.

Leon said he didn't know if an income variable could come into play with the hospital programs, but that the free kits now available from the state are part of a one-time federally funded grant.

Some 5,000 free kits have been made available, he said.

"That's a good amount to blanket the state in the short term," he said.

The kits contain two intranasal doses of naloxone, which is an anti-opioid and can revive a heroin overdose victim.

Rochester Police as well as most EMS services also carry Narcan kits.

Also last month the New Hampshire attorney general's office apprised the public of its ongoing investigation into whether drug companies are deceptively marketing prescription opioids.