Preventing drug deaths

The key to reversing the growing number of drug overdose deaths lies in education, treatment and law enforcement, said Kim Johnson, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse.

To reduce drug use, the state is trying to reach out to young people before they start abusing drugs.

Johnson said her office next year would launch an initiative to educate students specifically about the dangers of prescription drugs. Her office is rolling out another program next month aimed at current drug users.

The program, which targets methadone patients and opiate abusers, will go over issues such as the dangers of mixing drugs, how to identify when somebody has overdosed, and how to treat somebody who has overdosed.