Mainers sometimes think we’re a bit behind the times, tucked up here as we are in the northeastern corner of the country.
And it’s true that it can take some things longer to get here than other parts of the world — fashion trends, for example.
Surely you’ve noticed that sometimes they don’t even show us on the national weather map, stopping instead in Boston, suggesting perhaps the weather up here is not all that important to the rest of the country.
Heck, even presidential candidates who happen by to campaign often don’t make it out of the hangar at the airport, choosing instead to spend more time in states with more votes to offer up.
So it’s always nice when we do get noticed. When someone from away discovers our part of the world and appreciates what we have to offer.
Make no mistake about it. Maine, especially the Bangor region, has been discovered by people from away and we have exactly what they are looking for.
Addicts — lots of them.
Sadly, word has spread far past our borders that when it comes to drug sales, Maine truly is open for business.
Those not convinced that the drug game is played a bit differently by those “from away” probably should have sat in on the autopsies of those three young people left in that burning car in Bangor two weeks ago.
Investigators have not said officially that the three homicides were drug-related, but there seem to be few who doubt it, especially since the man seen leaving with the three was said to have made frequent trips to the area, always in a rented car from Rhode Island and at least two of the three victims were known to have been drug users.
Last May there was a massive drug bust in Providence, R.I. Three kilos of heroin worth $1 million and 200 grams of cocaine were seized and those arrested reportedly were part of a Dominican drug trafficking organization with ties to a Mexican drug cartel.
U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha was asked about the organizations’ presence in Rhode Island.
“Where there is money to be made, they will operate,” he said.
I don’t mean to imply that the homicides here are related to a Dominican or Mexican organization or cartel, but both groups have holds in Rhode Island and New York City and for years now have been extending their reach throughout New England, according to published reports and government publications.
The drug bust on Ohio Street in Bangor last November involved a man police identified as a member of a Dominican drug trafficking organization.
Drug problems in Maine are not new, but ask the patrol officers, drug agents and prosecutors and they’ll tell you the culture here is different now.
The game has changed and the horror that occurred at Target Industrial Circle emphasizes that.
Of course, most of the violence connected with drugs has little to do with out-of-state dealers, but is perpetrated by our own.
Generally, it is not out-of-staters robbing our pharmacies at gunpoint.
During a drug bust last May in Hudson, police found several semiautomatic assault rifles, two semiautomatic handguns, a shotgun, several hundred rounds of ammunition, stun guns, night vision equipment and military-grade ballistic body armor.
But despite regular pharmacy robberies, 500 drug-affected babies born in our state last year and too many armed home invasions, we thankfully are still a place that is shocked by the violent deaths of three young people in a burning automobile.
And if, as expected, their deaths were drug-related, those homicides should serve as a wake-up call to this community and to this state.
The world is smaller than it once was. Communication and technology advances have expanded many businesses, and in the very serious and very dangerous world of drugs, Maine has been discovered.
I usually don’t agree with Renee’s articles, but she hit the nail on the head with this one. We have a real bad drug problem in the Bangor area. Some of it is native born, and some of it “came from away” for various reasons. The answer to the problem not only lies with law enforcement and proper incarceration, but part of the answer lies with the city counsel’s of Bangor and Brewer, and the intervention into the problem. As long as Bangor is an entitlement city complete with 3 methadone clinics, open arms to any freeloader coming in from out of state with ill intents and no job, this problem will get worse.
I totally agree. Look at Pickering Square. There is no way I’d walk from the parking garage to downtown. I’d rather go to the mall where it is safer. Yes, we have a foot patrol in town now but as soon as he is out of site, the drug deals begin. The professional welfare people come up here and there are no drug tests, no background investigations and not checks on them after they set up housekeeping..or what ever they call it.We all know where the drugs are. Ohio St., Essex St. Behind Shaws. Third St., ad nauseum. Until we all sit down and tell out state reps and senators how we feel nothing will be done. Same whith city hall. Vote in new blood and maybe they will do something about all this.
The overall mindset of citizens that support these people and “feel” for these people needs to change. There is a never ending empathy for the downtrodden, and the druggies and law breakers are lumped in with the well intended people when this subject gets spotlighted, then we that bring it up are accused of being insensitive to peoples needs and we are guilty of profiling. I say B.S. There is no excuse for a drug infested lifestyle. I once had substance abuse problems, finally chose to move on with my life and quit with the help of AA. People can walk away from this problem if they truly want to. I see it every week when I attend meetings. The support is out there, and it’s free. When the need for drugs go away, so do the dealers.
I think we should lock up anyone who doesn’t like the same cereal you do. Let’s just take your idea and bump it up a notch!
Has nothing to do about me. Don’t use the worn out tactic of implying that I’m narrow minded. And don’t do the typical overreaction by bumping it up a notch. Why can’t you take the situation for face value and how the situation got us to where we are. My views have nothing to do with how the influx of scourge got here. It got here from a certain environment that was created to make them want to come. Who’s been in charge for 40 years?
It still doesn’t make the solution to simply condemn anyone who uses drugs as some less than human element of society. Without empathy – understanding of the problem – no practical means of dealing with the problem can be found. You may wish we could just send every drug user and criminal or “bad element” to some uninhabited island, but it ain’t gonna happen. I applaud you for being able to change your lifestyle, but not everyone is just like you or in the same circumstances.
sounds like a dry drunk to me!
Yay cmy6…Our city has been used by state and federal lawmakers as a dumping ground for addicts. We once had workfare, to earn welfare you needed temporarily. Now any addict can come here from all over the U.S. and immediately obtain free food, housing, medical, daily methadone, walmart clothing orders, and never ever work one day again in their life. As Dr. Phil says, ‘What is the payoff you are getting ?’ One always exists. Federal and state $ are obtained for Maine’s economy on behalf of the addicts. Lawyers and doctors benefit the most. They would not practice here if it were not lucrative. Criminal activity, disability compensation for addiction, prisons, courts, daily treatment, are all money makers. A sunken economy draws in the dealers, as we are seeing. I agree that we need to take a good look at who created this environment to make them want to come to Maine. Before you vote, see who has been altering our environment to line their pockets.
Finally, someone who gets it.
Just chatted with a Vegas police officer at the folk festival who said ‘drug crime is here because lawmakers need it, it makes $’. His city has 0 tolerance. Compassion gives no incentive to ever change. When punishment is harsh, the dealers and the addicts will get the message. Giving them free food, housing, clothing orders, medical, and daily cab rides to pick up their free methadone has solved nothing, our crime statistics show the escalation in BDN’s recent report titled, “Prescription drug abuse blamed for increase in Maine crime’….enlightening facts for those who want to know the truth.
What is so scary walking from the parking garage which is already in downtown Bangor across Pickering Square? Also, when does parking in the garage mean you must walk across Pickering Square? You don’t have to make the trek across it if you do not desire, you can walk around it with ease.
I know longer take my daughter to the Maine Discovery Museum as she has outgrown it but for many summers not long ago I parked in the garage and made the trek across the square without any sort of issue and I would walk across that square with or without her tomorrow.
Are drugs dealt on Ohio and Essex street? Yes, it happens but I still see plenty of normal folks walking both streets during the day and night. I’ve yet to read about a drive by shooting on either Ohio or Essex street or hear that normal everyday people are afraid for their lives in they venture down either streets.
Yes, Bangor has some drug problems but overall it is still a very safe place to live. Maine is still the safest state to live in but a lot of folks seems to miss that fact.
Good for you, you have yet to read of a drive by shooting. I guess that is when you choose to start worrying.
Was that a question or statement?
For a liberal to admit to a problem is to admit to failure in the policies that got us here. They pretend that there is no problem.
We did vote in new blood and when cuts and/or tests have been mentioned as part of the screening process for welfare the DEMOCRATS SCREAM bloody murder. The State is so liberal we make Ted Kennedy look like George W Bush.
Our state has built a illicit drug supporting infrastructure and our own city council is complicit by allowing the methadone clinics.
Methadone treatment was the miracle that was supposed to help the 200 or so Maine addicts in 1996. Now we have over 4,000 with the majority on mainecare. Any regrets Governor King?
In what bubble room were you in 1996?
Do most people live in denial about the negatives concerning where ever it is they live? Why does this article and alot of comments here sound as if people are surprised. We have had big city drug dealers playing a role in our local drug scene for many years. Since Bangor set up their three (3) methadone clinics it has gotten worse. We have taken all addicts from northern central and eastern maine and centralized them in one small area. It is a drug “inferno” that could not be fed with local talent, hence big city, gang, dealers. The Bangor city council still can’t even admit we have a drug/welfare problem in Bangor. But hey, no matter because we put on one hell of a Folk Festival.
It is simple equation, supply and demand. Wherever the clinics are there are addicts coming by the droves. Where the addicts are, the dealers will arrive. One comes for help at the clinic, bringing 6-10 actively using family and friends. Who did not see this ? Why did they think the $ to the city was worth the destruction ? Let’s vote responsibly, and study their decision making abilities next election.
“We are a culture without the will to seriously examine our own
problems. We eschew that which is complex, contradictory or confusing. As a
culture, we seek simple solutions. We enjoy being provoked and titillated, but
resist the rigorous, painstaking examination of issues that might, in the end,
bring us to the point of recognizing our problems, which is the essential first
step to solving any of them.”
-David Simon
Right on, good to see this in the BDN.
With all due respect Ms. Ordway, this article is written just five to eight years too late.
Quote of the day! Excellent.
Without question, this has been going on for at least 5 to 8 years (and mainly while people pooh-poohed even the remotest idea that this could be happening in Mayberry RFD Maine).
Prescription drugs made headlines in Bangor in 1986 with many deaths. (I still have those newspapers). Again it increased here in 1999 with increased youth’s deaths. When the clinics arrived, it spiraled out of control. No surprise. Where there is a demand, the suppliers will arrive in droves, and demand their payoff, thus the crime escatlation.
Hopefully the mdea and local pd will catch on.
The police department is well aware. It is also incredibly short handed. We need to give our police officers as much support as we give our school department. No raise in three years…no viable retirement program makes for slim pickings in the recruitment of new officers and the retention of our veteran officers. With the problems Bangor has it is time for the community as a whole to throw its full weight behind the p.d. Our officers are dedicated and put themselves between us and these drug dealers and users every day.
Just can’t believe what’s acceptable, especially from the repeat offenders… seems like they would reduce the risk they put themselves in if someone would put their foot down somewhere. Seems like a lot of buck passing. When the normal response to needles being found is.. “Well, it’s the neighborhood you moved into,” or the reaction from an officer regarding getting help for an assaultive loved one on bath salts while at the height of getting national attention for the way Bangor handles bath salts being, “You should have just left them to deal with it themselves” tends to leave me a little bit in the negative. How does one throw one’s “weight behind pd,” it’s gotta go a little further than just saying nice things and “good job” for me. I know they put their lives on the line all the time, but they’re not the only ones. We all have to mingle with these quick to repeat offenders, their consecutive, descending mug shots scream volumes that something’s not right. One of Bangor’s best officers was saying years ago that Bangor’s going to have big problems with being a service city. He said all the big cities send people here. I’m just pretty concerned, that’s all. It would help if PCHC would stop giving out drugs like candy.
I agree with much of what you say but not about our officers disregarding calls…particularly in regards to bath salts. It is mandatory that two police officers respond if a call may involve bath salts. It is not uncommon that the bath salt user is taken directly to the hospital by ems. So if you have four guys on and two bath salts calls all of your officers are “tied up”. By throwing full weight behind the p.d. I mean we must have competitive wages and benefits to attract officers and retain them. There are towns in this area that pay their officers more and they don’t deal with any where near the issues that our officers do. And…please think about this…you can walk or run away from a potentially dangerous situation…police offices will not. It is their sworn duty to stand between everyone else and the bad guys. And…they do.
Sorry, I’ve had officers and ems leave me to deal with a raving assaultive loved one on bath salts after his mom pleaded to have him taken to the ER via a 911 call and he refused. The cops got to drive away and I got to risk my life by going in the home, getting other loved ones out along with knives and other weapons he had because he was so paranoid and eventually convincing him to go to the ER with me (all for no salary at all!). After medically cleared, he ended going home to his mom’s, throwing something at her head while verbally assaulting her and finally was taken to jail. I ended up having to personally flush 16 grams of the crap we found in the house the next morning. So, again, pardon me for being so negative but it’s a joke when the said at the bath salt forum.. “If you even suspect someone’s on bath salts, just call 911 and let us deal with it.” It’s just not that cut and dry. – In response to your other comment.. Funny you say that, because I did call them back when he started picking up things threatening to throw them at her (and in the toilet)! I stood outside holding the family dog, waiting for pd to show, but couldn’t take it anymore when he finally had chased everybody out of the house, continuing to yell, be irate and trash the place.
You are correct that it is not cut and dry. When the mother begged to have him go to the er and he refused..ems and police could not force him. If..after they left…you saw that he was a danger to himself or others you should have called them back before you entered the house. It really is too bad you were not able to convince him when police and ems were still present. Police and ems sometimes have their hands tied by the laws that are in place. Perhaps some of those laws need to be tweeked.
But, that candy brings in big tax $ from both federal and state. Our city pays all their rents, and food orders, and that keeps taxes paid on dilapidated housing here. Drugs dealing and accompanying crime is big $ for a city whose union jobs all disappeared. Our steel and textile mills, our pulp and paper industry, our numerous shoe factories, our railroads, and our mental health hospital once put this city on the map. Lawmakers need to be accountable, and we as voters need to be vigilant on what is going on in Augusta.
More like 20 years.
Yes, prescription drug deaths made headlines in Bangor in 1986 (still have those papers). In 1999, youth drug deaths escalated in Bangor. When the clinic arrived, droves of addicts from all over the U.S. arrived with their actively using friends and family. Where there is demand, the suppliers will follow. Dealers saw a market here, and now we the taxpaying community have to suffer the results of horrible decisions our lawmakers have allowed to happen. Let’s vote more responsibly next time.
Not only is dope (and it is called that for a reason) being transported to Maine, folks would be surprised at how many meth labs are scattered throughout the state, especially in the rural areas.
Please enlighten us to your wealth of knowledge. You certainly are not a dope.
Our children are old enough to read Iculus.
So if you know about all these meth labs why not help by doing something about? or letting the MDEA in on your information about these labs?
yes, there is an anonymous tipline at bangor pd. for all concerned.
This is old news but funny you are just catching on
Not only are there hundreds of drug addicted babies being born every year, there are possibly thousands of young children being raised by family members other than their parents due to drug addiction. Everyone pays.
Yes, and it is ironic to me that the Adult Drug Court in Bangor is the one that got shut down. It holds drug addicts accountable and also offers them help. Addicts benefit to the extent that they allow themselves to.
Lawmakers need the resulting tax $ from drug related crime. Someone saw they were getting true help and not repeating their crimes…and that is so sad.
Drugs have been in Maine for a long time. True we could do with less of those clinics which only enable drug addicts. I have heard some say why bother getting high on illegal drugs when you can get it for free and legally. I have heard them say they would sell it for other drugs. Those methadone pill mills need to go and the good old fashion method of getting clean needs to commence. If they hurt bad enough they will want to change their lifestyles. Bill W never lead a person down the wrong path and his wisdom has saved more than one life. Excuses excuses enough already. This world is too extreme to the right and to the left and that alone is destroying our world. We need balance from our leaders. We can’t turn our backs on our people. That is what makes Maine unique. But instead of holding their heads under water we should start programs which will put people to work instead of being home bored and high. Volunteeer programs where community service is needed if you want to be in welfare or are involved in a methadone clinic. Nothing is for free. This will show them their strengths and give them courage to come out of the haze and find a better space to be in. Also many people can’t afford day care or health insurance. Do volunteer work to pay for it through the government. Clean parks Clean road ways. Mow lawns. Clean government buildings. There’s plenty to do.
You know, not everyone in a methadone clinic is on welfare. Some people work for a living. They work for the State, your school district, carpenters, plumbers, metal workers, mechanics, etc. They are trying to make something of their lives. They made choices early in life and are trying to get our of the lifestyle. It isn’t the addiction that causes entitlement attitude. THe entitlement attitude was already there before addiction. Entitlement attitude is everywhere.
yeah and i’ve never heard that methadone is “free”!
“Bill W never lead a person down the wrong path and his wisdom has saved more than one life.”
Study after study has shown that AA is no more effective than any other addiction treatment program. Additionally, AA has been shown to be monumentally ineffective for atheists and agnostic members.
Can you show us these studies? I know an atheist that became sober through aa. 12 years sober. Your studies might be monumentally ineffective at showing the truth.
The program works for the people who choose to allow it to work for them. People get out of anything only as much as they put in.
Whose responsibility?? Mine, yours. Every time we turn our head when we think people are dealing we become part of the problem. When it becomes my friend or child in the front seat of a burned out car I don’t want to say, “If only I had said something. :(“.
While I can agree with Renee’s article in subject matter, the true problems are still being overlooked here. Until the DA starts charging these criminals when the police actually do get them off the streets and stops making Plea agreements with them, this problem not only never goes away, it gets far worse because the risk is much less than if these people get caught in say, Boston or New York. Bail needs to be set high enough that they cannot make it, messages need to be sent to all dealers and groups, cartels, or organizations, that if you insist on doing business in Maine, we will take you down. Unfortunately this state runs much more like Mexico in which the criminals run the state and the police and powers that be try to stay out of the way.
It is delusional to think that law enforcement will ever be able to eliminate the drug problem. All we can do is control the supply, educate, and protect ourselves. A start will be to control physicians that prescribe, drug companies that promote the sale, and teach Society that quick relief from physical pain and emotional pain is not the answer. Face it, law enforcement and the courts are ineffective at dealing with the problem.
Shut the clinics down and we might not have the problem!!
I think we’d have worse problems, drugs will still be here, they were before the clinics!
Yeah, shut the clinic down. The Governor is trying to that. A dramtic increase in pharamcy robbers in the past few months. Addicts are in pain, they will do almost anything to ease the pain. Most don’t understand getting high, at the point in life some of these addicts are at is about easing the pain, not to get high for something to do.
Rene: Let me give you a little clue……..drug dealers discovered Maine a long time ago.
Yeah, she is a little late. But hey, it sells.
Very true. Drug dealers have been here 30 years or more. As an example do some research back in the late 70s on Gary and Paul Mahaney. They employed MSP officers in their drug operation which they ran out of Mars Hill and Westfield, They mutilated and committed the act of murder against people who crossed them.
http://me.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19811201_0040308.ME.htm/qx
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19810429&id=lP4zAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZCMIAAAAIBAJ&pg=4562,5145556
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19810326&id=kxM0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=oyMIAAAAIBAJ&pg=2624,3814244
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19701204&id=6uM0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=XuEIAAAAIBAJ&pg=3123,2031710
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19810330&id=lRM0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=oyMIAAAAIBAJ&pg=2642,5063274
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19791122&id=nXE-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=QVoMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4447,2336342
1995 called. They want their story back.
Wow the BDN only figured this out 20 years too late. Maybe in another 20 years they will figure out the rest of the issues Maine is facing that they are blind to.
In fact, the BDN has been covering Maine’s drug problem, particularly prescription drugs and more recently bath salts, for quite some time. It has done it better than any other Maine news outlet. Here Ordway is highlighting an aspect that has been underreported: dealers coming into the state.
Not long ago while waiting outside the Bangor Library at opening hour, I chanced upon two young men engaged in conversation. It was during Occupy Maine and both individuals were in their early twenties: one, who appeared more disheveled perhaps from a sleepless night, was lauding his recent conquest of the social welfare system. He explained rather nonchalantly how a case worker had reviewed his plight and provided him with all the accouterments of an income stream that would now allow him to sleep during the days while he pursued other activities in the evening. “So you don’t plan on looking for a job,” his companion queried. “Why should I,” he retorted, “they pay for everything… and, besides, who wants to get up every morning to go to work.”
Renee is right: drugs are in Maine, and a broken culture of parent-less and agnostics adolescents have chosen this area for many reasons. However, I wonder what would happen if the welfare state was crushed, and only those who really needed a temporary hand were aided, while the rest were left to fend for themselves. And if those who chose to violate the law in the aftermath were punished harshly, would not the remainder consider an alternative path that might possibly lead to healthier attitudes about oneself and society? I wonder?
Even if your logic is sound it still won’t work because the people involved don’t base their decisions on reasonable calculations about the consequences of their actions. Your scheme would work for a society filled with reasonable people. Reasonable people are not the problem.
Fend for themselves? Their unemployable. Welfare is more cost efective than prison. This problem is huge. How are we going to bring manufacturing back to the USA, who’s going to do the work? Drug adicts or more illegal’s.
Addicts working are better then addicts collecting welfare. At least the tax payers are not paying for the habit.
U going to hire them? ROFL!
A lot of people do drugs and never get in trouble. It is the uneducated that get addicted and cause problems. If there were no drugs then they would just be alcoholics. The gov’t should be regulating drug sales not leaving it to the wild west system we have now.
The uneducated get addicted! LOL. Addiction knows no cognitive function. Some are able to control their use, some aren’t. Your statement is like saying some people can control their eating but the uneducated cannot.
The drug problem will only get worse until you get a task force that only targets drugs that come into this state. No time now to be easy on crime, Make Maine the state the drug dealers worst nightmare with hard and stiff sentences.
Delusional…..going to jail is to part of doing business for a dealer. If you can make 3-4K a week, stash away a few years worth when you get our of jail you have three or four years salary waiting for you. A year in jail is nothing, you’d have to lock them up for life. Then there is the expense of jailing them for decades. There needs to be a solution, however stiff sentence isn’t the answer.
“Then there is the expense of jailing them for decades.”
Government services should be paid for by the people who use those services. In an ideal world drug users would pay for treatment services and incarceration through taxes. Prohibitions is an economist’s nightmare as it makes people pay for services they – hopefully – will never use themselves.
Our current system allows drug dealer to remove currency from circulation, making money less available to everyone, while taxpayers are left paying the bill for their actions, taking more money out of everyone’s pockets. Drug prohibition is a lose-lose scenario for the taxpayer.
Simple solution. But who is going to hire a drug addict that is actively using? No job means no money. As a tax payer I don’t mind short term effective treatment that produces results. We waste our money less affective areas. Remove money from circulation? So these people are just stashing it under their matress and not spending it? Fancy cars, designer clothes, food, TVs, hell they even pay fines to fund the judicial system. Saying the money doesn’t re-circulate is far from reality. Maybe we could save ourselves money by re-thinking the “drug war”. Think of all the lost money we pay for cops to chase drug dealers producing little result! There is no simple solution. I think if we limit production of legal drugs it would be a start.
“The drug problem will only get worse until you get a task force that only targets drugs that come into this state. ”
We have one, It failed, just as all legal efforts to suppress drug use have failed. The urge to alter one’s consciousness is part of being human – ever see a young kid spin in circles until they lose balance and fall down? Altered consciousness.
Some people like who they are.
The difference is that no one gets killed over spinning in circles and it does not appear to be addictive. After all, how often do you see adults spinning in circles?
i see adults spinning in circles all the time! the point is, ppl become addicted for very specific reason, why don’t we start there?
sugar addicts?! space monkey, etc.
Task Forces have always failed on the drug problem. Incarceration has always failed on the drug problem.
The only thing that has ever worked are stable parents who have set a consistent example for their children of extremely limited use of alcohol, extremely limited use of prescription drugs, and zero use of illegal drugs.
Each of us as an individual is the source of the drug problem and the drug solution, not the drug dealers, not weak drug laws. Until each of us takes responsibility for our own behavior, and example, the drug problem will persist.
It is my understanding that Maine is one of the few states that have stiffer penalties for rock then powder, it is still here and targets certain groups of people but what do we care, Maine is 90 something percent white, right?!
We’ve been trying to suppress drug with law enforcement techniques for nearly a century. We escalated these efforts into a “War on Drugs” early 40 years ago. Over that time period, drugs have become more available, more pure and cost less in real dollars than before the War. Additionally, over that same time period America has, not coincidentally, become the world’s largest prison population. Think about that – because of our futile efforts to fight an unbeatable bogeyman, America, the World’s Beacon of Liberty, has imprisoned more people than communist China. By any objective measure the war is over, and we lost. Badly. Even worse, in fight against the bogeyman, we’ve lost track of who we are as a society.
A common definition of insanity is to repeat the same action over and over while expecting different results. Continuing to fight a lost war while expecting different results is the height of foolishness. It is time for a different approach to the drug problem; drugs are too dangerous to be unregulated.
Drugs are too dangerous to be freely available in the unregulated black market.I support the legalization of all drugs. They should be made available to adults behind the counter at pharmacies, as we currently do with cold medicines and paregoric. They should be taxed heavily to support treatment programs and incarceration for those who sell to children. Intoxicating substances are incredibly cheap to manufacture, so even with a large tax placed on them prices would be less than on the black market. The legalization, regulation and taxation approach ingwould have the added benefit of shift the tax burden for treatment and incarceration away from the taxpayer and back onto the user.
Stop the insanity – legalize, regulate and tax.
One point on the China reference. China use re-education labor camps in their judicial system.
We read below that “The answer to the problem not only lies with law enforcement and proper incarceration…”
If we locked up every person who stepped over the line, who would be running the Maine House of Representatives?
The humble Farmer
I am glad Renee had the courage to write and stand behind her article. This puts the truth out here in print so it is not to be denied in the future.
her article is courage? LOL. Is she suddenly a hero? By writting this article she is suddenly courageous. Why doesn’t she spend a month of with an addict and write a real article? Maybe spend a month with an undcover drug agent, or maybe stop in front of a bullet.
There is also an informative report online title “Prescription drug abuse blamed for increase in Maine crime’…..the statistics there are mind boggling, but they are the facts for those who really do want to know what is happening.
what does “During a drug bust last May in Hudson, police found several
semiautomatic assault rifles, two semiautomatic handguns, a shotgun,
several hundred rounds of ammunition, stun guns, night vision equipment
and military-grade ballistic body armor.” have to do with your story?
Those people were local maine residents. They were in violation of federal law in possession of weapons and narcotics however the weapons on their own were not illegal. If you are trying to say it is out of state traffickers are bringing in weapons, violence, drugs we have plenty of home grown scumbags…
you know the easiest way to end drug related violence is to decriminalize it and/or legalize it. Spend the money saved on operational costs from prison and the criminal justice system on awareness education on the health dangers of drugs then those who still want to destroy their bodies and lives let them.
Wow, and when did you come to this conclusion Mrs. Obvious?? You know why drug dealers come here? Because there is a market. No form of prohibition has ever worked in this country, and none ever will. So what do we do? Educate the masses? Good luck. Arrest all the drug dealers? For every one arrested, 2 will take their place. When weak minded people quit buying the drugs, the dealers will go away. In the meantime, not telling Ron Gastia how to do his job, but in other places I have lived, when too many pharmacies got robbed, houses broken in to, etc, a bad batch of drugs would show up. Not saying the cops were spiking seized drugs and putting them back on the street. But just saying it took care of a lot of the problem.
when the weak minded stop buy junk food we won’t have fat people. When the weak minded stop smoking cigarettes we will decrease lung related diseases. When the weak minded stop beliving the non-sense from politicans we will have change…………….damn those weak people, we should send them to the gas chamber.
Offensive comment
I find offense to many comments made here. Comments suggesting drug addicts are all on welfare, methadone clinics are just legal drug dealers, drug addicts are weak minded, the uneducated get addicted. I’m sorry you’re offended, but the term illustrates the silliness of the comment regarding weak people. By the way had relatives sent to the gas chamber. It is ok, in this policitcally correct world I will be sent to be “re-educated” at a sensivity camp.
“U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha was asked about the organizations’ presence in Rhode Island.“Where there is money to be made, they will operate,” he said.”
Gosh, I wonder how we could eliminate the “money to be made.”
It would remove criminals from the racket.
Legalization would make drugs more accessible but it would also make
the drugs cheaper, remove the criminal element with their commercial
desire to recruit new “customers,” eliminate the bribery of corrupt officials,
end the motive for addicts to commit robberies, free our honest cops to
pursue the outlaws who commit violent crimes and cruel commercial crimes,
make more of our prison cells available to house those outlaws, and free up
our tax dollars for more important purposes.
Yes, drugs would be more accessible but nothing and nobody can stop a
fool from self-destruction if that’s what they want, and tell me, does anyone in Maine know
a 12-year-old who cannot get illegal drugs if he or she wants them? With all
the million$ spent in our “war on drugs” and all the excellent work by police,
are drugs really less accessible. I mean really?
Back in the 1920s we learned that Prohibition didn’t reduce drinking. It merely
provided a fertile field for the rise of organized crime.
What’s the use of learning if we don’t use what we learn?
I have a question that I would greatly appreciate input on. I came to Maine for a ten day vacation in August of 2001. A friend and I spent the time driving and sightseeing and meeting people. We spent days and nights in Madawaska, St. Agatha, Presque Isle and Millinocket. Granted, we were in Aroostook the whole time and never made it to the city of Bangor or other metropolitan areas. But I left with the impression that we had found paradise. The land of Whoopie Pies, Moxie and lobster where moose walked down the road. It seemed to us that Maine was a utopia with friendly people, crime free practically and I came back to Mississippi and told everyone that Maine was somewhere you could let your kids ride their bikes to the store and not worry about them. Was I that blind and delusional? Was I that wrong or has Maine and Aroostook in particular changed since 2001 as much as it seems?
I think, Scott, you could visit these places again and have a similar experience, and I don’t think even Bangor is outwardly as frightening as some describe it to be, but there is an underbelly in every community, including seemingly utopian places like Madawaska, that are being rotted away from the inside by the wares of bad people who wish to profit from the vulnerabilities of our society. The newspapers bring the results to light. You just, though, might not happen to see any of it on a leisurely vacation. But, if you took the time to ask the cashier at the convenience store if there is a drug problem in the area, you likely would leave feeling a little down-hearted. Still, please come visit again, and write about your experience again; I’d be interested to know if you notice a difference.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say Maine is Utopian, or a paradise, but it is not as bad as you might think it is after reading many of these comments. We still have Whoopie pies, lobster, Moxie, and easy to see moose. We have friendly people (in my opinion) and, although not crime free, less crime than many, many other areas of the U.S. I have lived in 4 different states, and 2 different countries, and travelled all around the world. I’ve seen a lot worse than I have seen here. Every single thing (crime) that goes on around here is reported, over-analyzed, and talked about to the point where it borders on obsessive! I’m sure I’m over-symplifying this, but I feel this is still a safe state (if I didn’t, I would prob. move). In fact, many, many people come from all over the world to vacation here! Hopefully you will, too!
There is an informative report available online concerning Maine drug statistics. It is titled ‘Prescription drug abuse blamed for increase in Maine crime’ . The facts show the deterioration. Overdoses are common. Growing up here, there was one murder around 1963 that shocked our city. Now they happen daily, and are either domestic violence due to drugs and alcohol, or drug related. There is a hidden agenda on why our courts, and state government condone this. Clinics, federal dollars, state dollars, keeping lawyers and doctors employed, increased court and jail business, all contribute to why the state needs this problem, and why they come here from all over the U.S. for their free housing, medical, food, and free daily methadone. Other states have learned the consequences and increased penalties for dealing. That is our only hope in cleaning up this created mess. Income made is never worth the lives lost.
It has changed.
This is news? I’ve lived in Maine for 12 years and it has always been obvious that there is a drug culture here. In fact, drug addicts and dealers seem to move to the more rural parts of Maine where there aren’t enough law enforcement officials (or possibly where the law can be bought) so that they can do whatever they please without fear. How is it that anyone can seem surprised or alarmed by the fact that “Maine is open for drug business” ???
Lawrence Massachusetts; remember that name. it is the New England drug transportation hub.
The Drugs come to Lawrence directly from New York. then they move from there to Worcester, Springfield, Manchester New Hampshire, Portland, Bangor, Lewiston, and etc. The lawrence connection to Bangor (and spacifically Ohio and third Streets) has been active since the late 1970’s. and the fact that no one mentions it, and that it has been allowed to continue for close to 35 years means (to me) that there are some very powerful people who wish to see this free-market drug fair continue.
UNTIL we get the people atthe top, the people really profiting from this plague, we will never stop it…. But then, maybe we don’t want to.
Same as the person from the small town of Van Buren…….$300,000…….one person…….no way! Who are the backers??????
You know, I am a little surprised that Ms. Ordway took the leap,
prior to any official announcement by investigators, to write that she believes the three homicides were drug-related. Although I won’t be surprised if and when such an announcement is made, I can wait before I go there. But, her column is an opinion, so I don’t quibble with her right to say it. I just think there are enough examples of our drug problem without citing unsubstantiated accounts.
WE need to make changes in the system. Such as at the clinic, post an officer outside and start arresting people who deal drugs! If your going to the clinic to get off the drugs then nobody would have a problem with it.We could also start drug testing people who get welfare.I know this sounds teribble to some people. But we need to start somewhere the drug problem has got out of control. Where there is drugs there is crime and the bangor erea has got outta control.
hey change the privacy laws….that was set by the politicians.
That’s correct. Politicians
like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and that lot who had the temerity
to mandate a “Bill of rights” which included the fourth amendment.
Why not just get rid of
the whole Constitution, it has become inconvenient. We could have a government
by fist-fight. the toughest person gets to lead.
Drug testing welfare recipients should be MANDATORY. Rights to privacy should be forfeited when you choose to live off the taxpayers and not be gainfully employed.
Drugs, welfare, fake disability claims and Mainecare are all part of a vicious cycle dragging this state down and overburdening those of us who choose to get up everyday and work.
What rock have you been under,if you are just finding out what has been going on for the last few years.
What a thoroughly racist column……….shame!
Exactly WHAT is racist? Is one racist if theyt say “Mexican drug gangs are makinbg an incursian into Maine?” Suppose it is correct, do citizens and newspaper readers need to be shielded from the fact that these folks are here? If I say “Many illegal immigrants in Massachusetts are Irish” Is that racist? What about saying “Minorities represent 80% and more of most prison systems” How about this; “Minorities are over represented in Maine’s crime stats.”
In my opinion it is “racist” to treat minorities differently than any other group (the elderly, teeenagers, or washington County residents.) All of those groups are identified when they commit heinous acts.
…….”During a drug bust last May in Hudson, police found several semiautomatic assault rifles, two semiautomatic handguns, a shotgun, several hundred rounds of ammunition, stun guns, night vision equipment and military-grade ballistic body armor”………
I have many of these same “legal to own” items in my home. Does possession of those, by innuendo, make me a drug dealer? Just sayin!
Members of the media tend to use “shock terms” in order to appeal to the emotions of many readers who do not know any better. “Semi-Automatic Assault Weapons” is a favorite, seen in media pieces all over the USA every day.
For the record: A true “assualt rifle” is a weapon designed primarily for military use in combat, that is capable of EITHER “semi automatic” operation or “full automatic” operation (machine gun!) with the movement of a selector switch on the weapon.
There are very few true AK-47’s in the USA, because very few are legal to own. There are very few M-16’s in the USA, in civilian hands, for the same reason. Yet there are millions of AKM”s and clones, and AR-15’s (civilian derivatives)legally owned by American civilians. They look alike, but the similarities end there. Just because something “looks sinister” means little or nothing in the real world, but to media outfits, words and pictures can be used to”frighten the masses” and they are……..every single day, just like here!
A “semi automatic” weapon, be it handgun, shotgun or rifle, is really an “auto-loader” which means that it “automatically loads” a new round into the chamber, after each single shot, with one pull of the trigger. It DOES NOT FIRE AUTOMATICALLY, it is NOT A MACHINE GUN!
Within the state of Maine there likely are several hundred thousand, maybe more, “semi auto” handguns, rifles and shotguns. Does that imply that we are all potential drug users? What is the real reason a supposed responsible journalist would use this specific terminology for………if not to attempt to frighten the readers?
It is sad that many writers in the USA today, basically ignorant of firearms knowledge themselves, deliberately “demonize” guns and legal gunowners, in a blatant attempt to appeal to the worst of that which lives in the hearts of many of us.
Absolutely nothing about “legal firearms ownership” should indicate that any of us have criminal potential! My family and I are outraged by the attempt to blame all of us who legally own firearms, for all of societies problems.
Nope.
I could not agree more. I think it is very unfortunate. We moved to the Downeast Area, hearing it was like taking a “step back in time.” Instead we found a deterioting economic wasteland. It is truly sad because visually it is absolutely cathartic. You have assets like Roque Bluffs and Jasper Beach and rich historical aesthetic appeal. Then overshadowing that is the blatant drug dealing during broad daylight, screaming fights at night time related to drugs. I find it very sad. The reality is in the big scheme of things, there is nothing here recreationally for youth. They walk by at all hours of the night, some look as young as ten, using every expletive in the English language. The irony is Machias has a HUGE fairgrounf fenced off, yet no fair. The fourth of July came and everyone went to see fireworks, no fireworks. There is a basketball court and a tennis court. Yay! How about an early intervention for the next generation, a rec center/skate park. Kids are getting into drugs and sex younger and younger. While many may live in homes where that is a common trend, it does not seem acceptable that we doom the younger generation to a similar fate. If people in the community/UMM students even could mentor, music lessons, sports, the arts and show a world beyond….that time would be an investment in the intellectual and hopefully economic prosperity of the next generation. I say this as someone that grew up in innercity life, Hartford CT area. I was the child of two addicts and was headed down there path, until at 14 a Shakesperean Lit professor became my mentor. She introduced me to Shakespeare, discovering a love of writing. Because of her, I am still the only person in my family to go to college and get a degree.
We can not stop drug use, unfortunately, but we can be proactive with our youth. Parents need to get there heads out of there “arses.” They need to stop being blindsighted and assuming that there kid/teen would never. It is irrelevant if your kid is on Honors. Drugs are becoming more andreadily available except now unlike 15-20 years ago where it was pot and alcohol. Kids are starting on coke, pills, injecting pills (did not even know that was possible until a friends son confided in me that his friend had learned to do it from his father), heroin, pot and binge drinking. I have heard so many parents tell me that they do not go in there teens room because they trust them. I don’t believe that, it is fear. Enter and become enlightened. Flip matresses, go through drawers. IT IS YOUR HOME AND YOUR CHILD! If you find nothing hurray! You have done well. If you find something, you have done even better because now you are empowered to intervene before your teen becomes an even worse addict or potential dealer. FYI kids as young as 11 are bringing drugs to school, from there “loving” parents. Sorry for the lengthy rant but as a mother of three, this disasotation from parental and community neccisity irates me. It takes one person to make a difference. Would love to host playgroups, feel free to e-mail me. Looking for folks in the downeast area to restore Maine’s rightful reputation!
I love that you are pro-active Crissy, because so many refuse to get involved. Your knowledge could greatly assist on this horrible issue that is escalating daily. It began in our state about 13 yrs ago when several youth died from overdoses, and it has not let up since. Bringing in the methadone clinics did nothing to slow the overdoses down. Before that time, there were a lot of overdoses on prescription meds, but then the street drugs took over as our economy sunk, and dealing was a way of quick easy money, regardless that it caused death, destruction, and rising crime. There is an informative report titled ‘Prescription drug abuse blamed for increase in Maine crime’ available online. Also search for ‘Prescription Drug Task Force Members’ and voice your opinion to those listed, particularly MDEA officials who are as passionate as you about this deterioration of our beautiful state, and its youth. Until courts punish appropriately for dealing, it will continue. Other states have been successful in combating drugs, and collectively we have the power if we join forces. You are so right in doing all possible to save a child, the affluent, the athlete, the honor student, are being lured and used by the dealers to line their pockets. Watching them destroy our children is not an option !
Great Quotations:
“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it…”
Mark Twain
“Duh, there are drugs in Maine & it’s a problem…”
Renee Ordway
Thanks for your razor sharp observation Renee.
I missed the part where you offered a solution.
We all are given the same choices to make. Work and pay our bills, or let the government support us and not work. We all started at minimum wage, and after years of experience and hard labor, you enjoy a little retirement. There are no shortcuts. Those who want help know there is AA, NA, and numerous resources when they are ready. Bangor is not lacking in free experienced help for those who truly want to live.