AUGUSTA — Drugs killed 176 people in Maine in 2013, marking just the third time in the past 15 years the death toll has topped 170.
According to figures released by the Maine Attorney General’s office on Monday, there were 13 more drug-induced deaths in Maine last year than in 2012. Of the 176 deaths, 105 were attributable to prescription opiates and 34 were caused by heroin.
While accounting for only about 19 percent of all the drug-related deaths in the state last year, deaths attributable to heroin have seen a meteoric rise since 2011, when the drug killed just seven people in Maine. In 2012, there were 28 heroin deaths.
Attorney General Janet Mills said in a news release that heroin use is on the rise in part because new regulations require tamper-resistant packaging for prescriptions for oxycodone.
Mills also wrote about the dual need for law enforcement and treatment to fight drug addiction and related crime in Maine.
“My office just obtained convictions in a triple homicide case in which three young Mainers were killed in a drug deal gone bad,” she said. “Criminals are targeting our state to sell drugs, bringing a shocking level of violence with them. My office is committed to prosecuting these cases, but we also need to focus on reducing the demand for these dangerous drugs.”
Last year’s figure is the highest since 2009, when drugs claimed 179 lives in Maine, and is tied with 2005 for the second-deadliest year since 1997.
From ‘97 to 2000, there was an average of 53 drug deaths per year. Then the figure skyrocketed, rising from 60 in 2000 to 165 in 2002. Since then, the annual death toll has never dipped below 153.
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