Fatal drug overdoses grew last year in Penobscot County and Bangor despite an overall decline in overdose deaths statewide.
Penobscot County is the only Maine county that saw more suspected and confirmed fatal overdoses in 2025 than the previous year, jumping from 64 to 67, according to a report released this week by the state and University of Maine researchers. That’s 17% of fatal overdoses statewide, for a county that makes up only 11% of the population.
Fatal overdoses statewide declined by more than 20% in that same time, and nonfatal overdoses dropped by 9%.
While it’s unclear why Bangor and the surrounding areas are outliers, the report highlights the urgency of getting money and resources into communities affected by the opioid crisis as Penobscot County and Bangor sit on a combined $2.1 million in opioid settlement funds. Local advocates also pointed to homeless encampment closures and inconsistent availability of harm reduction services in the last year as potential factors.
There’s no singular reason why Penobscot County and Bangor failed to lower overdose deaths last year, according to local leaders in recovery and harm reduction.
“There’s just so many factors at play,” said Amy Clark, board chair for the Maine Recovery Action Project. Regardless, Clark said she wished the city would focus more on preventing overdose deaths.
Funds secured through national settlements with companies accused of contributing to the opioid epidemic, which started to be distributed to Maine counties and cities in 2022, could aid efforts to reduce overdose deaths.
Penobscot County had nearly $1.5 million of these funds unspent as of last month, according to a report filed with the state. The city of Bangor has about $650,000 available, all of which an advisory committee plans to distribute to local organizations in the coming week, according to City Manager Carollynn Lear.
That means between those two government bodies, there’s more than $2 million in the bank that could be used to counteract the opioid crisis.
Advocates have criticized the city and county for being slow to spend the money since payments began in 2022. Neither formed an advisory committee to plan spending the funds until last year. Bangor also struggled to quickly spend relief funds meant to counteract effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both the city and the county will continue to earn money from the settlements through 2038.
“Every overdose death is preventable, and it’s whether or not we choose to take decisive and quick action, and specifically in this scenario, opioid settlement money should have hit the ground many, many months ago,” said Courtney Gary-Allen, executive director of the Maine Recovery Action Project.
“Politicians have the power to decide whether or not their policy decisions are going to either save lives or kill Mainers, and Bangor City Council chose to kill Mainers,” she said of its failure to make enough harm reduction and recovery services available to its constituents.
Bangor’s Opioid Settlement Funds Advisory Committee finalized its grant recommendations on Wednesday. Those grants will have to be approved by the City Council before they can be distributed.
Penobscot County approved a set of 12 grants in December, although those only total $400,000 — less than a third of available funds.
The payments, which will go to a variety of organizations such as shelters, counseling services, sober living homes and youth programs, had not yet gone out as of the County Commissioners meeting on Feb. 4.
Blair Tinkham, the new county administrator, could not provide comment by time of publication.
Gary-Allen added that she’s happy to see the city taking action with the new grant recommendations.
Scott Pardy, who serves on the city’s advisory committee and runs a network of recovery homes in the area, said he’s unsure if getting the money out sooner would have directly lowered the number of overdose deaths, but he’s glad that the committee has finalized its funding recommendations and is particularly excited that some of the city’s money will go toward detox centers.
Several advocates also noted that gaps in local harm reduction programs — which can provide sterile syringes, naloxone and other supplies that make drug use safer — over the last year could help explain the uptick in overdose deaths.
The Health Equity Alliance, commonly known as HEAL, closed last spring after months of financial turbulence and Needlepoint Sanctuary was delayed in opening a brick and mortar syringe service location over a zoning issue.
“Harm reduction services had to kind of rebuild itself in Bangor,” Gary-Allen said.
Many also linked overdose deaths to encampment closures and other factors related to the region’s homelessness problem.
“A lot of it has to do with, I believe, the lack of stable housing options for people and the ability for people to have follow-through case management” so they can stay housed and sober, said Jamie Beck, who chairs the Penobscot County Opioid Advisory Committee.
Clark also noted several encampments were shut down in 2025, which could have been a factor in some of the overdose deaths.
An affordable housing shortage and a limited number of landlords who will accept housing vouchers mean that many people living outside can’t get into housing when camps are shut down. The closure of Tent City, also known as Camp Hope, displaced nearly 100 people.
“People can’t recover if they don’t have their basic needs met,” Clark said. “It’s hard to focus on not using drugs if you’re sleeping in a tent down by the river.”
Willie Hurley, executive director of Needlepoint Sanctuary, said he thinks reducing overdose deaths will require broader shifts in culture and policymaking.
“Stakeholders, policymakers and advocates need to take some risks on reforms that would at times make people uncomfortable, like safe injection sites,” Hurley said, noting that in order for an overdose to be reversed, the person using drugs has to be around other people.
