Move forward with plan to combat substance abuse

On May 7 a Southwest Harbor boat-builder and fisherman stood up at a board of selectmen’s meeting holding a zip-lock plastic bag containing several syringes and needles found recently on his property, and demanded that something be done about the rampant problems of drug abuse and drug trafficking in his community.

On Aug. 6, three months later, the U.S. Senate’s Governmental Affairs Committee held an official field hearing in Bangor. Chaired by Sen. Susan Collins, the committee oversees federal agencies that regulate prescription drugs. Joined by Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire, Sen. Collins conducted the hearing to receive testimony on the escalating problem of prescription drug abuse in Maine, including Hancock County and Mount Desert Island in particular.

In the interim between these two events, two other public hearings had been held. The first occurred on May 29 in Southwest Harbor when 225 residents of MDI and neighboring communities gathered to discuss these problems with a panel of eight experts. The second was conducted by the Hancock County commissioners on July 22 in Ellsworth to discuss the sheriff’s proposal to establish a countywide Drug Enforcement Team to be made up of three officers from local police departments who would be trained by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and assigned permanently to Hancock County as MDEA agents with authority to enforce anti-drug laws statewide. Clearly, these four events are directly related both temporally and in substance, and it is reasonable to conclude that the Governmental Affairs Committee hearing in Bangor was held in response to the first three.

In addition to hearing from state health and law enforcement officials, the committee received testimony from Barbara Royal, director of the Open Door Recovery treatment center in Ellsworth, and Dr. Richard Dimond of Southwest Harbor. All nine witnesses emphasized that no single solution to these problems existed and that a coordinated, comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach, including effective education, treatment, law enforcement and prevention strategies was required.

More specifically, Dr. Dimond decried recent state and federal cuts in drug enforcement personnel and budgets in spite of escalating drug problems in Maine and other rural states. In addition, he stated pointedly, Maine’s resources for treatment of alcohol and opiate abuse are woefully inadequate.

Currently, Hancock County has only one intensive outpatient treatment program for alcohol and drug abuse among adolescents and adults, no emergency in-patient resources for opiate detoxification in adolescents or adults, and no residential in-patient treatment facility for opiate addiction in adolescents or adults. Maine initiated its Adult Drug Treatment Court Program in 2001 in six jurisdictions statewide, including Penobscot and Washington counties but not Hancock County.

Barbara Royal stated that Maine and Hancock County were about to be overwhelmed by a “tidal wave of addiction,” and Dr. Dimond urged both senators, “Federal funding for programs supporting education, treatment, law enforcement and prevention efforts to combat alcohol abuse, illicit opiate abuse, and prescription drug abuse must be increased.” Additionally, he recommended that federal funding be provided to implement a pilot study of Maine’s recently enacted prescription drug monitoring bill LD 945.

In the meanwhile, it is important to recognize that other specific initiatives are already under way. For example, in the areas of prevention and education locally, MDI Communities for Children is actively seeking to expand and implement programs for young people that will provide them with structured activities in safe places during nonschool hours, including repeated discussions about violence and use of tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs, and prescription drugs. In the combined area of law enforcement and treatment, discussions are already under way between the district attorney, members of the medical and drug abuse treatment communities, and the State Judicial Branch to explore the feasibility of establishing an Adult Drug Treatment Court in Hancock County.

The latter is a rigorous, 12-month, court-supervised treatment program in lieu of incarceration for individuals who have entered a plea-bargain agreement following their arrest for drug-related crime(s). Another approach to effective treatment being explored is the establishment of a long-term, residential, therapeutic community modeled after Daytop Village in Rhinebeck, N.Y. Founded in 1963, Daytop is the oldest, continuous therapeutic community in the nation, operates programs at 26 sites across the country, and has helped thousands of individuals turn their lives around.

The community is based on two principles: first, that with professional guidance the community itself provides the impetus and support necessary for an addict to remain drug free, to abide by community rules, and to act responsibly, as well as to value honesty, self-reliance, work and responsible concern for others; secondly, that addicted individuals must overcome their disease each day on their own. During the last year, the Maine Lighthouse Corp. in Bar Harbor has been actively seeking to establish such a facility in the northern part of the state.

As noted earlier, the county commissioners are currently evaluating Sheriff William Clark’s recent proposal to establish a countywide drug enforcement team. As is the case with many proposals, this one is not perfect, and it will increase county taxes at the estimated rate of $3 per $100,00 of property valuation for each taxpayer. Nevertheless, when considered in the overall context of the initiatives cited above, and given the lack of other law enforcement alternatives, its pluses clearly outweigh its minuses.

Thus, this proposal to strengthen investigative law enforcement in our geographic area should be viewed as a first step among multiple initiatives that draw upon different professional disciplines to combat drug abuse collectively. As such, it is a concrete, workable plan that can be implemented within the next five months. Furthermore, by increasing law enforcement in this manner, it has the strategic potential of interrupting the flow of drugs regionally through Hancock, Penobscot and Washington counties. Therefore, it should be supported fully by all of us.

Marilyn Di Bonaventuro and Mary Anna Fox wrote this commentary for the board of directors of the Acadia Family Center and the MDI Alcohol and Drug Abuse Group.