June Evergreen, the Bangor Health Equity Alliance’s harm reduction coordinator, first began using opioids when a doctor prescribed her OxyContin following a major surgery.
That prescription launched 10 years of substance use that started with prescription pain medication before evolving to heroin after she developed a tolerance.
“Many times I tried to quit,” Evergreen said. “Many times I’d make it to day three, and many times heroin would win those battles. I didn’t want this to be my life and yet I couldn’t break away from it all.”
In 2020, her 10-year-old son found Evergreen “basically dead in a closet,” administered Narcan, a nasal spray that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, and alerted an adult.
After she lost custody of her son, she entered recovery with the support of her friends, family and colleagues paired with ample substance use and mental health treatment. Evergreen has been sober for three years and regained custody of her son two years ago.
Her story mirrors many Bangor-area families who have battled substance use and lost loved ones to a drug overdose in recent years as the opioid epidemic continues to rage across Maine.
Several others with close connections to or experience with substance use disorder gathered in Bangor on Thursday in honor of International Opioid Awareness Day, an annual campaign that honors people who have died from a drug overdose while calling for more treatment and recovery resources.
The event came on the heels of the state releasing its latest monthly overdose report, issued by the University of Maine and Maine attorney general’s office, which showed a slight decrease in the rate of fatal overdoses this year compared with last year’s numbers.
Maine saw 821 overdoses in July, 54 of which were fatal, according to the report. This marks a slight improvement over the 923 overdoses Maine saw in July 2022, 66 of which were fatal.
While overdoses are still happening every day, the total of confirmed and suspected fatal overdoses in Maine from January through July this year is 7.8 percent lower than the total confirmed fatal overdoses for the same period in 2022, according to Gordon Smith, the state’s director of opioid response.
“That’s encouraging, but it’s still way too many people,” Smith said in a meeting of local substance use treatment and recovery organizations on Wednesday. “We still see an unparalleled level of hurt and the numbers of people overdosing.”
State officials are cautiously optimistic about the declining rate of fatal overdoses, but local professionals noted Penobscot County continues to see disproportionately high numbers.
Maine saw 5,875 overdoses between January and July of this year, 366 of which were fatal. Of those, 750 overdoses happened in Penobscot County, and 54 of them were fatal, the report states.
This means despite holding only 11 percent of the state’s population, Penobscot County saw 14 percent of the state’s overdoses and 15 percent of the state’s fatalities from January to July.
In July alone, Penobscot County was home to 124 of Maine’s 870 total overdoses, according to the report. Seven of the state’s 54 overdose deaths in July occurred in Penobscot County, according to the report.
Despite this, Smith said the Bangor region has plenty of local resources who are all doing good work that falls in line with the state’s larger opioid response strategic action plan. Though the results of that work, especially prevention efforts, may not be seen for years, he said that change will come with time and continued action.
“I’m an optimist, and already we see the numbers improving a little,” Smith said. “If we keep doing all the things we’re supposed to do, we can help a tremendous amount of people between now and 2026.”
Though the region has numerous resources to fight the ongoing opioid epidemic, Bangor-area organization leaders said the community needs to tackle reasons people begin using substances in the first place.
Bob Fickett, executive director of the Bangor Area Recovery Network, said the Bangor region needs more safe, affordable housing, as having a safe place to live is vital when anyone is attempting to successfully recover from addiction.
Other changes, like increasing minimum wage and expanding access to affordable health care and mental health treatment would also help people ensure their basic needs are being met.
“People are struggling, and not just because they’re in active use,” Fickett said. “It’s because they don’t have their basic needs met and we need to help families end that cycle of poverty they get stuck in.”
Sarah Falvey, clinical director of Wellspring, echoed others’ calls for increased affordable housing and added there’s a need for more resources for adolescents who are struggling with substance use disorder, mental health challenges and homelessness.
To further help steer young people away from drug use, Gov. Janet Mills aims to install evidence-based drug prevention programs in every school and community in the state by the end of 2026, Smith said.
