PORTLAND, Maine — Maine's battle with the opioid crisis remains, but according to the latest state monthly overdose report from September, there has been an 18.8-percent decrease in fatal overdoses compared to last year.
In Portland specifically, the city has seen a 60-percent decrease in deadly overdoses, Portland Police Department staff said.
"It would be fascinating if people were really kind of trying to figure out epidemiologically, you know, what is the cause for this? We don't know," Bill Burns, Portland Police Department's substance use disorder liaison, said.
While Burns doesn't have an exact answer for what caused the decline, he said he thinks the homeless encampment closures are likely a big reason. Burns spends most of his time working with the unhoused population in Portland and said people are becoming more cognizant of the dangers of fentanyl.
"There's a lot of awareness about the dangers involved in using even one pill, because there's so much, kind of, fake prescription drugs out there that can be laced with deadly drugs," he said. "I think that's hopefully starting to change things."
Burns said he's also heard people are misusing multiple drugs at the same time to prevent dying from fentanyl.
"They were worried about the fentanyl, so they put methadone in their shot so that would balance that out and, kind of, counterbalance things," he said.
Burns and other experts warn the crisis is far from over. Portland Police Department data reveals nonfatal overdoses in the city have actually increased seven percent from last year, with 481 overdoses in total so far in 2024.
"The reality is, like, people are still dying from substance use and opiate use in our community," Andrew Bove, vice president of social work at Preble Street, said.
Bove said the significant decrease in fatalities is encouraging, but the city and state are still in the middle of a crisis. Treatment, detox, and mental health care, he said, are as important now as ever.
"Most everyone now in Maine probably knows somebody that struggles with substance use or opiate use, and it could happen really to anybody. Any one of us," Bove said.
Click here for some of the state's substance use disorder resources.