AUGUSTA — Maine has set another grim record for drug overdose deaths, Attorney General Janet Mills said Monday in a news release.

In 2015, 272 people died in Maine as the result of overdosing — a 31 percent jump over 2014, which saw a record 208 overdose deaths, Mills said.

The total number of overdose deaths last year exceeded initial estimates largely due to an increase in deaths caused by heroin, fentanyl or a combination of the two drugs in the second half of the year.

In 2015, 157 deaths were caused by heroin and/or nonpharmaceutical fentanyl and 111 were caused by pharmaceutical opioids, Mills said.

Last year’s overdose deaths caused by illegal drugs exceeded overdose deaths caused by pharmaceutical opioids for the first time, even though the number of deaths caused by pharmaceutical opioids increased slightly as well. Nearly all deaths were in combination with other intoxicants.

“These figures are shocking,” Mills said. “Maine averaged more than five drug deaths per week. That is five families every week losing a loved one to drugs. These are sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, our neighbors, our friends.

“I applaud the families who have come forward to share their stories about the struggles they have endured in watching a loved one succumb to addiction and the pain it has caused,” she said.

“Behind every one of these deaths is a story that must be told as a warning to anyone who thinks opiates are a harmless party drug with no consequence,” she said. “No one is immune from addiction. No one is immune from overdose. No one is immune from death. We must use every effort to intervene in these people’s lives before it is too late.”

“These death statistics are just one measure of Maine’s drug crisis,” Mills said. “More must be done to preserve lives and protect our communities from the negative effects that drug abuse has on us. Prevention, intervention, treatment and law enforcement all must play larger roles in stemming this deadly tide.”

The drug overdose death analysis was conducted for the Attorney General, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, by Marcella Sorg of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine.

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