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AUGUSTA, Maine — The increasing illegal use of prescription drugs has become a crisis, state law enforcement officials say.
To combat the problem, the officials are stressing that they need every tool, from federal grants to programs for disposal of unneeded prescription drugs.
“That’s an epidemic that we are facing right now,” said state Attorney General Janet Mills. “It has a serious economic impact on Maine and the state budget because of the use of MaineCare funds for the use of all kinds of prescription drugs that end up in the wrong hands.”
Mills said the increase in prescription drug diversion is dramatic, and she is using federal grant money to assign two prosecutors to drug diversion cases. In 1998, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency reported 50 diversion arrests that were 7 percent of all drug arrests that year. In 2008, there were 259 arrests that accounted for 39 percent of all drug arrests.
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