It’s time to open overdose prevention centers in Maine.

“What’s an overdose prevention center?” one might ask. Overdose prevention centers (OPCs) are evidence-based public health interventions, where trained personnel monitor participants for signs of overdose and intervene to prevent or reverse overdoses. In addition to overdose prevention services, OPCs provide a welcoming space that helps bring drug use indoors and connect people to long-term, life-sustaining resources.

These OPCs are not new. Even though the first U.S.-based OPC (OnPoint NYC) didn’t open until 2021, OPCs have been operating in other parts of the world since as early as 1986, when the first-ever OPC opened in Switzerland. OPCs also are not rare. Although there are only two OPCs operating in the United States, there are currently over 120 OPCs operating across 11 countries around the globe.

OPCs save lives by reducing overdose deaths, reducing risky behaviors that lead to HIV and hepatitis C, increasing connections to health services and helping to decrease the number of calls received by EMS relating to overdose, therefore saving the municipality and state money.

We did see a decrease in overdose deaths in 2024 compared to 2023, but we are still seeing hundreds each year. Even one overdose death is too many.

People can help by telling our legislators that they want to see overdose prevention centers here in Maine.

For more information on OPCs, check out OnPoint NYC and the good it has done over the last few years.

Mikki Rice
Strong