From the heart

Excerpts from responses to last week’s “Finding a Fix.”

I want to thank you for bringing this to people’s attention. I don’t think the public realizes the problem in the Bangor area. At one treatment site I was told they had 600 clients. My son is in a treatment program that my wife and I fight about. It makes your home life a hell of a mess. My son is going on 21 and lives off my wife and me. He has no car and no job and has to be taken daily to treatment to get his “fix” for the day. Instead of drying him out they give him something he now has to take daily and doesn’t have to look for. – J.S.

The dialogue is long overdue, that’s for sure, but don’t expect that it just needs a forum. If you don’t ask the tough questions, don’t expect the tough answers … and remember that some people don’t want the answers anyway. There are some in Maine that have had the courage to admit that they have substance abuse issues in their communities and with their children. Anyone in the prevention or treatment fields knows that if you can’t admit to having a problem, there’s nothing to fix. It is as true for communities as it is for individuals. I salute the leaders of these groups, for they have undoubtedly had some experience with the harsh results of substance abuse. For the rest of you … sit back, relax … and have another beer. It’s not your kid. Good luck with your column. I will read it with great interest. I hope, at the very least, it makes some people mad. – Al Morris, Presque Isle

I worked in a boarding school in the 80s where we established a successful substance abuse program. I drove a van full of kids to Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon meetings five and six nights a week. The conversations going on in the back of the van and at the meetings were most enlightening. The key force in our success was including the students in the process from the beginning. When a student leader went into recovery, not drinking and drugging became “cool.” Positive peer pressure is a powerful force. Student ownership was the magic ingredient in our program. Adult-driven programs for adolescents will only address part of the problem and likely never get to the heart like a student-driven program. – Peter Duston, Cherryfield