Please go to Central Maine Online to read the full editorial. 

Overdose deaths and opioid prescriptions are down, but there are new challenges ahead.

By: The Editorial Board

~~Excerpt

Prescriptions for the powerful pain medications that helped hook so many people on opioids are down in Maine, as are the number of fatal drug overdoses.

That’s good news. But there remains plenty of evidence that the drug crisis is changing, bringing new challenges to policy makers, health care providers, law enforcement and families. Many of those Mainers will be at Gov. Janet Mills’ opioid summit on Monday in Augusta; they should address these new challenges.

Drug overdose deaths fell 14 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2019, continuing a decline that began in 2018. That means a dozen fewer families lost a loved one — no small victory for the many people who have been fighting up hill against this crisis.