Mills Administration dedicates $1 million to purchase and distribute test strips for the powerful sedative xylazine, a growing contributor to fentanyl overdoses in Maine and the nation
Governor Janet Mills today announced steps to combat the dangers of xylazine, a powerful sedative that, when combined with fentanyl, is contributing to a growing number of overdoses and overdose deaths in Maine and across the country.
During remarks delivered at the Governor’s 5th Annual Opioid Response Summit today, Governor Mills announced that the Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) Office of Behavioral Health and Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention will dedicate $1 million to purchase and distribute xylazine test strips in Maine. In addition, the Department will engage with state health care providers and community organizations about xylazine to increase awareness of its risks and treatment of side effects.
The Governor also announced that the Office of Behavioral Health is using $1.2 million in Federal funds to add nine peer outreach workers statewide to support street and community-based outreach to high-risk populations and link individuals to long-term supports and services. Hired in April as part of a two-year pilot program, these workers have already served more than 600 people, delivered more than 200 trainings to communities across Maine, and distributed 925 naloxone kits.
The Governor’s announcement comes after the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy last week issued a national response plan for combating the combination of fentanyl and xylazine, which has been declared an “emerging threat” to the country.
“The growing presence of xylazine is making a crisis level situation even worse. When mixed with the already highly-dangerous fentanyl, xylazine makes drugs more lethal and naloxone – which has saved thousands of lives in Maine – is powerless to reverse its effects,” said Governor Janet Mills. “We have a long way to go in the fight against this epidemic, but it is my hope that these new actions will help reduce the number of lethal overdoses driven by xylazine. My Administration will continue to work hard to prevent and treat addiction, and above all else, save lives.”
“The opioid epidemic continues to claim the lives of Maine people, alongside the emerging threat of xylazine that exacerbates the scourge of fentanyl,” said Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew and Office of Behavioral Health Director Sarah Squirrell. “We must and will do more. The new actions the Governor announced today will help to prevent deadly overdose deaths as we continue to work with partners to combat this epidemic and adapt to it on all fronts, starting with prevention and including harm reduction, treatment and recovery. We want all Maine people to know that help is always available.”
For the opioid response summit, the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF) has published an updated Maine Opioid Response Strategic Plan that outlines the State’s strategies to fight the opioid epidemic. View the plan here (PDF).
“Maine has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic, which has affected countless numbers of our neighbors, colleagues, friends, and family members. Our work is more critical than ever,” said Gordon Smith, Director of Opioid Response. “Our updated strategic action plan, released today, reflects the contributions of many Maine people who offered their thoughts and ideas to support the tens of thousands of Mainers currently living with the chronic illness of addiction, and do more to break this deadly cycle.”
Xylazine, a powerful non-opioid animal tranquilizer not approved for use in people, has been cited in nearly 11 percent of drug overdose deaths nationally through June 2022, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from fewer than three percent in January 2019 – a difference that represents an increase of 276 percent.
In Maine, fentanyl mixed with xylazine has been cited in 11 percent of drug overdose deaths through May of this year, according to the Attorney General’s Office’s Monthly Overdose Report. In 2022, fentanyl combined with xylazine contributed to an estimated six percent of overdose deaths in Maine. So far this year, the number of fentanyl overdose deaths with xylazine has increased.
The increasing prevalence of the synthetic opioid fentanyl has driven an increase in drug overdoses, and overdose deaths, in Maine and across the country over the past two years. Through May of this year, 253 Maine people have died of a drug overdose, with 80 percent of those deaths involving fentanyl, increasingly when mixed with non-opioids such as cocaine, methamphetamine, and xylazine.
Xylazine mixed with fentanyl increases the risk of a drug overdose becoming fatal. Because xylazine is not an opioid, Narcan does not work to reverse its effects, which include difficulty breathing, lowered heart rate, and wounds that can become infected. Narcan should still be given in response to any suspected drug overdose to reverse possible opioid effects.
Under the initiative announced today, this summer DHHS will purchase and distribute xylazine test strips to community-based programs that will supply the strips to individuals. Additionally, DHHS will educate partners on the risks and ways to help people harmed by xylazine.
Under Governor Mills’ leadership, the State has taken many significant actions to address the opioid epidemic, including:
- Providing health insurance coverage through MaineCare expansion to over 100,000 Mainers, with over 25,000 individuals receiving treatment for substance use;
- Increasing the purchase and distribution of naloxone in Maine in response to increased numbers of overdoses. Since 2019, the Mills Administration has distributed more than 324,755 doses of naloxone, which has been used to reverse over 7,998 overdoses that may have otherwise been fatal;
- Providing $6 million to create 140 new residential treatment beds for substance use disorder (SUD) across the state, an increase of nearly 40 percent;
- Substantially increasing rates for providers of residential SUD treatment, including an increase implemented in 2020/2021 of 77 percent for medically supervised withdrawal services;
- Supporting health providers in offering medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), with 1,035 providers who wrote at least one prescription for an MOUD medication in 2022, an increase of 289, or 39 percent, since 2019. In 2023, 676 prescribers wrote at least one prescription for an MOUD medication, compared to 517 by mid-2022, a 31 percent increase.
- Doubling liaisons in the OPTIONS program, which has placed response teams in each Maine county to engage with individuals to promote drug prevention and harm reduction strategies, connect people to recovery and treatment, and distribute naloxone;
- Seizing 4.7 pounds of fentanyl by Maine Drug Enforcement agents from January to June of this year, not counting seizures led by local law enforcement agencies, such as 30 pounds of fentanyl seized in Auburn after it was shipped to a local restaurant.
- Vastly expanding team-based treatment of opioid use disorder for eligible MaineCare members and uninsured individuals through Opioid Health Homes, from 19 service locations serving 781 individuals a month at the beginning of 2019, to 113 locations serving 4,656 individuals a month in May 2023. The number of members served has increased over 1,400 a month in just the past year as MaineCare adapted its model in August 2022 to also serve individuals receiving methadone and those at a medication-only level of care;
- In 2022, expanding Maine’s “Good Samaritan” law, first signed by Governor Mills in 2019, which encourages individuals to call for life-saving assistance when someone at their location is experiencing an overdose;
- Recruiting and training of over 1,000 recovery coaches; and
- Providing funding for medically monitored withdrawal beds through OBH to support room and board and other costs not covered by MaineCare.
For information about substance use disorder support and resources, call 211, text your zip code to 898-211, email info@211Maine.org, visit the Maine 211 website, or visit the website of the OPTIONS program at www.knowyouroptions.me.