BRIDGTON, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — There is more troubling news about the ongoing opioid crisis.
According to the CDC, more people nationwide died from heroin-related causes than from gun homicides last year.
Here in Maine in 2015, drug overdose deaths from heroin, fentanyl and other opioids surpassed the number of fatalities from car accidents for the very first time.
Two-hundred and eighty-six people have died from drug overdoses in Maine this year.
Just five years ago, motor vehicle deaths outnumbered fatal heroin and fentanyl overdose deaths in Maine by almost 9-to-1. Doctors said it’s going to get worse because more people are switching to heroin because of stricter monitoring of prescription drugs.