Opiate addiction in some Maine counties has risen tenfold in the last decade and it has at least doubled in many others. Treating addicts and preventing new addictions is a long-term community endeavor. The Acadia Hospital and Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems are to be commended for their nascent efforts, which officially began with a forum in conjunction with the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce last week, to bring widespread attention to the problem. Beyond this, however, it is important to know why the addiction rate is growing so fast and what can be done to alleviate the problem before it begins.

“The Bangor area will be dealing with this problem for the rest of the professional careers of the people in this room,” Scott Farnum, a former head of the substance abuse program at Acadia, warned at the Bangor forum. Because opiates change a person’s brain chemistry, addiction is a lifelong disease, not something that can be treated quickly.

That’s why Mr. Farnum advocates for employers to be more accepting of workers who are dealing with their addiction rather than having a “no tolerance” policy. Encouraging workers to continue treatment through flexible schedules, for example, is much more helpful than denying an addict a job and the community and support that can come from a workplace.

Because opiate addiction will continue to alter Maine workplaces, schools and families it is important to know why the state’s population is so at risk.

Kim Johnson, the director of the state’s Office of Substance Abuse, says Maine, West Virginia and Kentucky have serious problems with prescription painkillers and other opiate abuse, but some rural states do not. Ms. Johnson says Maine’s history of injury-prone, heavy labor means that many prescriptions for opiate painkillers are written, making the drugs more available. The state also has a lot of people working in the health care field. These could contribute to the problem, but that is only a guess, Ms. Johnson said.

Given the long-term nature of the problem, it is worth a substantial investment to investigate why some populations are more at risk than others. Knowing what puts people at risk of addiction will better enable the state to develop policies to minimize these risks.

Acadia Hospital and Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems have launched a two-year effort called “Close to Home” to raise awareness of opiate addiction in the Bangor area. Dottie Hill, president and CEO of Acadia, estimates that up to 9 percent of the population in Bangor and Washington County is addicted to opiates, compared to 2 percent nationally. Obituaries of young people in this paper and others hint at the problem, but the campaign aims to let business leaders, educators, parents and others know how widespread it really is. It will then direct them to resources on the dangers of addiction as a means of prevention and to treatment programs for those who are already addicted.

Bringing community recognition to this major problem is a good first step. Understanding the causes of the problem so it can be better addressed is the next one.