Writer: TABOR hurts programs for addicts

Are you a parent who sits up nights, worrying your teen is driving and drinking despite your warnings and discussions? Is someone you love trying to reclaim his or her life through substance abuse counseling or medication-supported treatment? Do your aging parents depend on meals on wheels, adult day care and other services to keep living in their own home? Do you have a family member who relies on a variety of state-funded mental health services to stay out of the hospital?

If someone you care about is participating in or on a waiting list for substance abuse treatment, mental health counseling or other services, you owe it to them to vote against the Taxpayer Bill of Rights next Tuesday. Why? Because if TABOR passes, the state Department of Health and Human Services, whose mission is to provide essential services to the people of Maine, will suffer crippling budget cuts.

The lion’s share of the cuts TABOR demands will fall on the poor, the elderly and the disabled. If this measure passes and the required cuts are distributed proportionately across state departments, the loss to the state DHHS budget could be as much as $360 million a year. As many as 60,000 Maine citizens – children, families, the elderly and people with physical and mental illnesses and disabilities – could lose their health care coverage. Child and adult mental health services, substance abuse and addiction treatment, development disabilities services and other programs will be sharply reduced or completely eliminated.

Right now, today, before the election, there are not enough programs for kids, adolescents, adults and families needing and seeking substance abuse treatment. In Maine, we need more access to these services, not less.

Whether we are talking about addiction, mental illness, or physical illness, we know that untreated illness will hurt Maine’s economy. The impact of untreated substance abuse and mental illness is profound – costs to social and child welfare, hospital and emergency rooms, prisons and jails, law enforcement, the courts, and employers will only increase. Crime – felonies such as homicide, assault and robberies and lesser offences like DUI, drug law violations and public drunkenness – will increase.

And the problems won’t end there. With TABOR, future funding will be limited to a level below what’s needed to maintain the prior year’s services. That means the reductions in available services will grow deeper as times goes on.

In November 2005, the people of Colorado voted to suspend the major elements of TABOR after a growing body of evidence showed that Colorado’s law contributed to a significant decline in that state’s public services. For example, the share of low-income children lacking health insurance has doubled in Colorado, even as it has fallen in the nation as a whole. Colorado now ranks last among the 50 states on this measure. Colorado was forced to eliminate many mental health and substance abuse programs and the rate of kids with mental health problems rose to above the national average. TABOR has also affected health care for adults: Colorado has fallen from 20th to 48th for the percentage of low-income nonelderly adults covered under health insurance.

Colorado’s experience provides an important cautionary tale for Mainers considering Question 1. TABOR didn’t work there and the Maine proposal is even worse. TABOR will hurt Maine people and Maine communities.

So, if you believe Maine’s taxes are too high and TABOR is too drastic, what are your options? When you go to the polls on Tuesday, vote for the legislator who is going to do something about the problem in a way that is sane and thoughtful. It’s not too late for you to call the candidates who are running in your district and ask them what their plan is. Listen carefully to their answers. Vote for thoughtful candidates who speak to your concerns instead of those who speak in sound bites.

TABOR is not tax reform. Please vote NO on Question 1.

Ruth Blauer is the executive director of the Maine Association of Substance Abuse Programs and the Maine Substance Abuse Foundation.

Please join our weekly conversation about Maine’s substance abuse problem. We welcome stories, comments or questions from all perspectives. Letters may be mailed to Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04401. Send e-mail contributions to findingafix@bangordailynews.net. Column editor Meg Haskell may be reached at (207) 990-8291 or mhaskell@bangordailynews.net.

From the heart

In response to last week’s letter seeking support for a mother whose 19-year-old son is unemployed, living in her garage and using drugs:

Dear Concerned Friend in Penobscot County,

You are a true friend to take the action you are taking. By getting involved, you may be saving this young man and his mother years of heartache and pain, and possibly saving his life. My hat is off to you.

As for counseling in the Patten area, the Katahdin Valley Health Center located at 30 Houlton Road has services available. The phone number is 528-2285.

Also, there are support groups in the area, including Al-Anon meetings in Houlton. Al-Anon is a group to help parents, wives, siblings and friends to gain a better understanding of addiction and alcoholism. Aroostook Mental Health in Houlton would have a listing of all the meetings in the area. The number to call is 532-6523, or toll free 1-888-568-1112.

I wish you and your friend the best. No one should have to endure a life full of hurt. Sometimes all we need is a true friend.

– An addict who has been there