Shine a light on Alzheimer’s
I would like to thank Sen. Susan Collins for all her advocacy work over the years for Alzheimer’s research and finally helping to bring to light the detrimental effect this disease has on our nation.
In her words, “Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease that takes a tremendous personal and economic toll on both the individual and family, directly affecting 5.2 million Americans. The disease is costing our nation $226 billion a year [and] it is the nation’s costliest disease and the only one in the top 10 fatal diseases without a means of effective treatments or a cure. If nothing is done to change the trajectory, the annual cost of caring for those with Alzheimer’s and other dementias will increase from $226 billion in this year to more than $1.1 trillion in 2050.”
Collins has fought to make this a national priority through her work in the Senate Special Committee on Aging, the Alzheimer’s Task Force and, most recently, the Senate Appropriations Committee, which approved a $350 million increase in funding for Alzheimer’s research at the National Institute of Health. This increase will bring total funding to $936 million.
From someone who personally has been affected by this disease, I, again, thank Collins for bringing this terrible disease into the spotlight. She is giving millions of people all over the nation hope we can one day live in a world without Alzheimer’s.
Courtney Freeman
Volunteer
Maine Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association
Portland
Marijuana reality
As a local public health department and Healthy Maine Partnership, an important aspect of our work is to reduce and prevent substance abuse in our community. The goal of these efforts is to protect the health, safety and quality of life for all, especially our youth.
Effective substance abuse prevention programs focus on addressing factors in the environment that drive use. One key factor is perception of harm from use. Whether youth view something as harmful can be influenced by community norms and attitudes, as well as media and pop culture.
It’s concerning to see marijuana repeatedly pitched as the “ safer choice” to other substances in policy debates. Comparing marijuana to alcohol or other substances does a disservice to our youth. These comparisons send messages to our youth that marijuana use is no big deal.
Adolescents particularly are vulnerable to the negative effects of marijuana. Its use can interfere with brain development, reduce motivation and disrupt learning. Marijuana is the No. 1 substance for which Maine youth seek substance abuse treatment services, comprising 56 percent of all treatment admissions last year.
The reality is that many youth and adults aren’t making a choice between marijuana and alcohol; they are using both and often at the same time. In fact, 60 percent of youth and more than one-third of adults seeking treatment for marijuana also seek treatment for alcohol.
This isn’t scare tactics; this is established and inarguable science. It is science that deserves to be shared with the community.
Patricia Hamilton
Family Nurse Practitioner Director
City of Bangor Public Health & Community Services
Bangor
Hell is coming
The more I read and listen to news and editorializing, the more I become convinced our once great country is rapidly sliding toward disaster. It is clear this is the result of two fundamental cultural deviants. First, the abandonment of the rule of law. Second, more profound because it is the basis of the first, throwing aside our moral imperative.
Consider our legal system. The U.S. Constitution is meaningless as written. The U.S. Supreme Court treats it as a playground of words to be interpreted by clever and abstract reasoning. It is changeable at the whim of whomever the current justices happen to be. The president ignores enforcement of of laws as written and enforces them through accepted legalese modifications as his personal conviction sees fit. Congress is unwilling to exercise its constitutional prerogatives to to rein in the other two branches.
All this has, not surprisingly, come about because of the moral malaise the nation has drifted into.The Judaeo-Christian ethic that, despite our human frailties, was the underlying reason our country, under God, became great. It was basic integrity and goodness that led us to world leadership. That ethic has been discarded. Perversion of words and ideas of fairness, choice, diversity, equality and rights have led to libertinism.
When God is set aside and human intellect is considered a superior path, there will be hell to pay. Sadly, it’s coming.
David Anderson
Stockholm
Derogatory statements
Gov. Paul LePage’s recent derogatory statements about French people’s alleged ignorance and general lack of intelligence ironically proves he is the living embodiment of these terrible and at times vicious stereotypes.
Ever since he was elected, LePage has demonized asylum seekers, welfare recipients and other less fortunate people in our society as blatant welfare abusers.
I am Acadian and share many ties to Quebecois, Brayonne and other French ethnicities. Of all the French people in Maine, the Acadians have had the saddest experience, from ethnic cleansing by the British to dispersal all over the U.S., Central and South America
My ancestors escaped the dispersal by traveling up the St. John River to Madawaska with almost nothing but the clothes on their backs. Here they settled and were welcomed to Madawaska by the native people already living there. These people helped my ancestors until they got back on their feet, even though they easily could have turned their backs on them, or worse.
If not for the local people who welcomed my Acadian ancestors and shared their land and resources, I might not be here today writing this letter.
The current groups of immigrants and refugees who need help are doing nothing more than what my Acadian ancestors and many others did: try to escape oppression, violence and build a new life.
Instead of help they get blatant, ignorant bigotry from our governor and many in the Legislature. Now a referendum effort is under way to repeal all help to these people in the new budget. A recent BDN poll showed 38 percent support it. For the first time in my life, I am ashamed to be a Mainer. But I am still a proud Acadian and am proud of the 62 percent who oppose the referendum.
Paul A. Cyr
Madawaska