On May 29, 225 residents of Mount Desert Island and neighboring communities gathered at a public forum in Southwest Harbor with a panel of eight experts to discuss drug abuse and drug trafficking in that community. Emphasizing that there is no single solution to these difficult problems, all panel members underscored the reality that only a multi-disciplinary approach including effective education, treatment, law enforcement and prevention strategies is likely to make a significant difference.

Nevertheless, residents were most outspoken about the immediate need for increased support from law enforcement. Consequently, the audience became increasingly frustrated with state law enforcement officials who repeatedly explained that there were insufficient funds and manpower to assign a Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) agent to Hancock County in the foreseeable future.

Subsequently, multiple discussions were held between local police departments in Hancock County, Sheriff William Clark, District Attorney Michael Povich, MDEA Director Roy McKinney and the county commissioners. As a result, Sheriff Clark has proposed formation of a countywide drug enforcement team – the only one of its kind in the state – modeled after MDEA’s Resident Agent Program. As reported in the press during the last three weeks, this plan consists of the following: (1) The team would be made up of three “of the best” individuals from local police departments who would be trained by MDEA and assigned permanently as MDEA agents in Hancock County with authority to enforce anti-drug laws statewide; (2) In addition to training, MDEA would provide equipment, including vehicles, use of trained dogs, “buy money” to make “drug deals,” overtime pay and other investigation and operational expenses; (3) The new agents’ salaries and benefits would continue to be paid by the originating local police departments; (4) The cost of hiring additional officers to fill the vacated positions in local police departments would be paid by the county; the county would also provide existing office space in Ellsworth for the new agents.

In essence, Sheriff Clark’s proposal creates a real partnership between Hancock County and MDEA – between the county’s citizens and the state at a time when both state and federal governments have continued to flat-fund MDEA in spite of escalating drug problems in many rural states.

The cost for this program is estimated to be about $200,000 to hire three new police officers, including their training at the police academy. For the individual taxpayer, this means an increased county tax of about $3 per $100,000 of property valuation. While one might argue that the state should pay for this program in full, the reality is that this is not going to happen. Our choices, then, are quite simple and boil down to the following – either we assign this program a top priority and pay for it accordingly, or we acknowledge that we were unwilling to do so.

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As noted at the May 29 forum, the Office of Substance Abuse (OSA) estimates that 25 percent of Maine high school seniors have used opiate drugs, that 50 percent of individuals using such drugs become addicted, and that addiction is more likely and occurs more rapidly in younger individuals. Based on data from more than 50,000 Maine public school students in 2002 – including students at MDI’s high school and four elementary schools and the three elementary schools on Frenchboro, Islesford and Swans Island – OSA estimates that almost 11 percent of 10th- and 12th-graders have used prescription drugs, with more than 3 percent using Oxycontin. In addition, OSA estimates that 11 percent of eighth-graders, 25 percent of 10th-graders, and 29 percent of 12th- graders smoke marijuana – rates that are all higher than comparable groups nationally. Similarly, 10 percent of eighth-graders, 21 percent of 10th-graders, and 30 percent of 12th- graders acknowledged “binge” drinking of alcohol in the previous two weeks. As also noted on May 29, most of the 256 deaths in Maine due to opiate overdoses in 2001 and 2002 were due to prescription narcotics, especially in combination with anti-depressants and alcohol. Furthermore, 10 of these deaths involved residents of Hancock County, and one of the latter was from Southwest Harbor.

Tragically, the local press reported last week that a young Bar Harbor man died there recently of acute cocaine intoxication. In view of such compelling and consistent statistics, it defies credibility to continue to maintain that “we don’t have a drug problem here,” and continuing to wait for someone else to solve these problems for us is unacceptable. As Sheriff Clark said, “If we don’t do this ourselves, no one else will.”

The May 29 forum represented the first step in confronting these issues as a community by acknowledging publicly that these difficult problems exist, that they affect us all in one way or another, and that it is our responsibility to do something about it. In addition, we hoped the forum would be the starting point of a powerful community response that effectively interrupts the flow of drugs through Southwest Harbor, Mount Desert Island and neighboring communities in Hancock, Penobscot and Washington counties.

Sheriff Clark, the local police departments and the county commissioners have provided us with a concrete, workable plan to serve as a second step in such a response by strengthening investigative law enforcement in our geographical area. Although multiple other initiatives are needed as well, we believe this is an excellent second step that should be supported vigorously and fully. Furthermore, that it has come together within several weeks of the May 29 forum and could be implemented fully by Jan. 1, 2004 is quite remarkable.

Therefore, we urge our fellow citizens to convey their personal support of this proposal to their councilmen, selectmen or county commissioners and to attend the public hearing scheduled by the commissioners at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, at the Ellsworth High School auditorium.

Mary Anna Fox and Dick Dimond operate the Acadia Family Center and the MDI Alcohol and Drug Abuse Group. This commentary was supported by more than 200 residents of Tremont, Bar Harbor, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor and the Cranberry Isles.