ROCKLAND, Maine — The death of a 19-year-old woman Sunday morning was the second suspected drug overdose death in the city this month, according to police.
“There is a significant addiction problem in the area,” Rockland police Deputy Chief Christopher Young said Monday.
The 19-year-old woman was found dead in a hotel room, Young said. A man who had been in the hotel room with her throughout the night called 911 when he found the woman unresponsive Sunday morning, according to Young.
A representative from the state medical examiner’s office responded and the preliminary determination is that the teen died from an overdose of opiates, according to Young.
On Jan. 12, a 38-year-old man died of an apparent opiate overdose in his apartment on Summer Street.
The final determination on both deaths will await toxicological tests by the state medical examiner’s office. The deputy chief said there is no indication that the two deaths were connected.
Young said officers will investigate the deaths to determine how the victims acquired the drugs but that it is not easy.
“We make every effort to track it down,” Young said, pointing out that the drug dealer in either case could at the very least be charged with furnishing drugs.
But “the other people involved are not the most cooperative. They don’t want to burn their own dealer,” he said.
Maine saw a record number of drug overdose deaths last year, reaching nearly 250.