Maine praised for efforts to curb substance abuse

AUGUSTA – Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, chairman of a national study commission on substance abuse, met with Gov. John Baldacci on Tuesday and praised Maine’s prevention efforts.

“Maine has one of the better programs in the country,” Dukakis said in an interview after the meeting. “Kitty and I just wanted to share the results of our study with the governor and leaders here in the state. It was a good meeting.”

Dukakis was accompanied by his wife at the meeting with Baldacci and other state officials who deal with substance abuse issues. In 1991, Mrs. Dukakis published a memoir, “Now You Know,” in which she discussed her battle with alcoholism.

“It used to be that 50 percent of the funds we spent on this problem went to prevention and reducing demand and 50 percent went to enforcement,” the former Bay State governor said. “It is now 70 percent enforcement and 30 percent for education and prevention. I think that is out of whack.”

Dukakis said the focus of state and national policy needs to be on reducing the demand, not just arresting those who abuse the wide range of substances – from tobacco to alcohol and illegal drugs.

“As long as this country continues to be one of the major consumers of addicting substances, somebody is going to grow the stuff and get it here,” he said. “We are not going to stop that without getting at the demand.”

Baldacci agreed. He said Maine has been successful in reducing smoking because of a major education effort to persuade residents to quit smoking. He said there needs to be a similar effort for all substance abuse.

“One of the things that we can do is make sure that substance abuses issues are better integrated within all of the departments and all of the initiatives so it is not just about smoking cessation,” Baldacci said in an interview after the meeting. “We need to do better.”

Maine has used tobacco settlement funds for a variety of health-related programs, with more than $17 million allocated this year for smoking cessation and prevention efforts. About $6.7 million is allocated to substance abuse programs. The total expected in the Fund for a Healthy Maine this budget year is nearly $64 million.

“We have had a 50 percent reduction in smoking because of the programs we have funded,” Baldacci said. “We know prevention efforts work.”

He said there has to be a “sharing” of the resources in the fund for broader substance abuse efforts. He said the infrastructure the state has developed to address tobacco addiction can be used to address alcohol and other drug abuse.

“We have community-based programs throughout the state already,” Baldacci noted. “We need to take advantage of that.”

He said substance abuse is expensive to Maine’s economy, adding that every person kept from going to a hospital emergency room is a major savings. He said the earlier a substance abuse program reaches a person, the larger the savings.

In a report released earlier this year by the Office of Substance Abuse, the estimated total cost of substance abuse in Maine in 2005 was $898 million, or about $660 for each Maine resident. The study included both direct costs and indirect costs, such as child welfare spending of $52 million.

“This is why we need to do a better job of prevention,” Baldacci said.

Both Baldacci and Dukakis said they hope the new president who takes office in January will put a higher priority on preventing substance abuse.

“We have the wrong priorities today,” Dukakis said. “We have to deal with the demand, reduce the demand. It is so important to get these funds into education and prevention.”

The commission Dukakis chaired worked with the National Council of State Legislators to come up with “best practices” for the states. They are affiliated with a group based at Boston University, Join Together, which is advocating for more substance abuse prevention programs across the country.