More Mainers are dying from overdoses each year because of potent street drugs, some of which are now laced with an animal tranquilizer that’s resistant to an overdose-reversing treatment.

“The product is so lethal on the street we are losing people who are not even in severe addiction, they just made a bad decision,” Gordon Smith, the state’s director of opioid response, told lawmakers Wednesday.

Fatal drug overdoses increased 11% through the first 10 months of 2022, state statistics show.

The numbers are up from 579 from January to October 2021, to 643 over the same period in 2022.

That means the state will set a new record for overdose deaths in 2022. In 2021, 631 Mainers died of overdoses, most fueled by fentanyl-laced opioids.

TRANQUILIZER COMPOUNDING THE PROBLEM

According to Smith, 80% of overdose deaths were caused by fentanyl and 6-8% were caused by xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer.

Xylazine is not an opioid. As a result, naloxone, which reverses an opioid overdose, does not work on xylazine, Smith said.

“The more xylazine there is mixed in with the fentanyl, the less likely it is that naloxone will revive the person,” he said.

Naloxone distribution has grown from 14,140 doses in 2019 to 103,767 in 2022 and substance use disorder beds have increased from 161 in 2015 to 422 in 2022, according to state statistics. 

One glimmer of hope is that only 7% of overdoses are fatal, Smith said, but noted there are 9,000 to 10,000 overdoses each year.

Final figures for overdose deaths for all of 2022 will be released next week. That data will show that even though the number is up, the percentage increase is half of what it was the previous year, he said.

“It’s still an increase,” he said. “It’s still a large number of Mainers who are deceased because they were using drugs and we were not able to get there in time.”

MORE EMPHASIS ON EDUCATION, PREVENTION

Smith said he is updating the state’s strategic opioid plan to reflect a greater emphasis on prevention. That will include prevention programs in every school and every community in the state.

Maine has launched a pilot program in middle schools in hopes of intervening earlier, dramatically increased the availability of naloxone and opened up more residential beds for those who need help, said Sarah Squirrell, director of the Office of Behavioral Health.

“We have to wrap our arms around these adolescents, particularly,” Smith said. “I really do think this really only gets better in Maine if fewer people start. Otherwise, we’re just dealing with the symptoms of the problem.”