Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.
Last week, I addressed a thousand people at the Opioid Response Summit in Augusta, Maine. I talked to them about how last year, we saw our largest decrease in drug overdose deaths since 2018. And from January to June of this year, fatal overdoses have decreased by more than 21% here in Maine. And that's welcome news.
But as I told them, we can't get complacent.
Every overdose is a tragic and preventable loss of a valued life. So, my administration is doing what we can, in a responsible manner, to stop deadly drugs from reaching Maine in the first place, and to prevent substance use disorder, and to treat it when we can't prevent it, and to set people on a lifelong path to recovery.
Above all else, we're simply working to save lives.
Last year, the state distributed more than 155,000 doses of the life-saving medication naloxone. Since I've taken office, 11,393 potentially fatal overdoses in Maine have been reversed with naloxone. But simply reversing an overdose is not enough to get someone back on their feet. It's also important to create more places where people can get help to stop using, to stay productive, and to reach their full potential.
In 2022, we established the Cumberland County Crisis Receiving Center -- walk-in services for anyone suffering a mental health or substance use crisis. Since that receiving center opened, more than 2,500 people have gotten services there. Next, we'll be establishing two other centers in Androscoggin and Penobscot counties.
We've added 61 residential treatment beds since I've taken office, and we've invested heavily in recovery community centers and residences, and recovery coaches. And we're exploring other innovative approaches to treatment. DHHS, for instance, has created treatmentconnection.com, where people can search for health care providers near them, and check on their availability, and submit treatment questions. My administration is also creating stable housing for those with chronic substance use disorder with wraparound services to help them become productive citizens once again.
In addition to housing, my administration is expanding access to good paying jobs for people in recovery, acknowledging those businesses who understand the unique experiences and skills of people in recovery. And that's important. That's why we've created the Recovery Friendly Workplaces certification, used by 73 businesses across the state, employing more than 11,500 people.
My administration is committed to supporting people as they start, stumble, or resume their recovery and to responding to new waves of the opioid epidemic, including the dangerous use of methamphetamines and xylazine, for which there is no overdose medication.
I want to do everything we can to keep people from starting down the path of addiction in the first place -- but fundamentally, what we need is leadership. Leadership in every community across the state. Leadership from every young person who's offered a pill to cure pain, a drug to fix anxiety, a drug to get high, a drug they believe will make them popular or more accepted. The leadership and the character to say, I am better than that, and my life is more valuable than that. And the leadership from all of us to tell that person that they are loved and that their lives are indeed far better than that, and we value them.
That's how we build a better future with strong communities and a state with endless opportunity.
This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.