Maine AG Joining Heroin Task Force

Maine Attorney General Janet T. Mills says Maine is joining a multi-state heroin task force that will combine law enforcement resources to combat distribution and abuse of the drug.

Mills says Friday that Maine is becoming a member of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Heroin Task Force, which is co-chaired by New York and Pennsylvania and also includes New Jersey and Massachusetts. The group brings together state attorneys general to facilitate exchange of information between different agencies. Mills says the effort will allow for larger and stronger criminal cases targeting multi-state distributors.

Mills says the percentage of cases prosecuted by her own Drug Crimes Taskforce that involved heroin grew from less than 8 percent in 2012 to more than 31 percent in 2014.