Maine needs more addiction treatment
Maine is experiencing an opioid epidemic. In Penobscot County, specifically, the majority of treatment facilities are at capacity or nearing so. If someone called and requested treatment, they would be put on a waiting list that is scheduling five to eight weeks out. With the rise of heroin overdoses all across the country, it is disheartening that people who want treatment have to wait five to eight weeks, putting them at high risk of overdose or death.
According to the most recent substance use and pregnancy conference held in Portland at the end of September, there have been 995 drug-affected babies born in Maine this past year. This is a drastic increase from the 165 born in 2005. This letter is to urge lawmakers to look at the statistics in front of them and fight for more accessible treatment to those in need. Without access to treatment, pregnant women are at high risk for miscarriage or early-term delivery.
Maine is rural, and access to treatment is difficult to find. The number of detox facilities and residential rehabs is minimal. According to the Maine Office of Substance Abuse’s 2015 epidemiology report, there were 208 deaths last year because of overdose and 70 percent of those overdoses were related to opiates. I urge lawmakers to increase the amount of education on prevention and treatment, as well as increase access to treatment.
Kaylie Smith
Milford
Raise Hampden teacher pay
I am a concerned member of the Hampden community. Teachers in our district are working without a contract, and I am writing to help motivate other community members to help solve this issue.
Teachers in Regional School Unit 22 are at the bottom of the salary scale when compared to the following districts: Bangor, Brewer, Old Town, Orono, Veazie, Hermon, Belfast, Newport, Mount Desert Island and Skowhegan. They have a weaker health insurance plan compared to all the other districts listed above.
Superintendent Richard Lyons is quoted on the welcome page of the RSU 22 website, saying, “We are extremely proud of our school district. We have been designated as one of Maine’s higher performing and efficient schools on numerous occasions over the last few years. As a district we are committed to the optimal learning for all students, consistently seeking ways to improve.”
It is time for the administration of RSU 22 to justify their pride in their schools and improve the salaries for teachers. There is a serious disconnect between expecting RSU 22 to stay a higher performing district when it is so hard to keep and attract excellent teachers. Teachers are leaving for other districts for better salaries and health insurance.
I urge all concerned citizens of RSU 22 to come to the school board meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16, in the library at Hampden Academy. It’s time to support the students and teachers of RSU 22.
William Gailmor
Hampden
Climate change fear
As the Paris climate summit ends, U.S. news seems consumed by dangerous political bombast, which ironically may further fuel the fires of terrorist activities.
Meanwhile, all GOP presidential candidates urge voters to ignore the climate chaos nearly 200 nations in Paris confirm is accelerating dramatically because of human activity. (One prominent candidate, Ted Cruz, even claims climate change is a religion, not proven science.)
Meanwhile, record floods are recorded in Norway, India, England and elsewhere. Snowpack in the Sierras is the lowest in recorded history, and so California’s 500-plus year record drought continues unabated. The Himalayas no longer supply the levels of snow melt needed to sustain major Asian rivers, and this past summer the Middle East saw a record breaking number of days of heat, some reaching a deadly 120 degrees or greater. (The U.S. Defense Department has for years linked climate change with growing political turmoil throughout worldwide.) And, though most candidates say this is untrue, temperature monitors worldwide verify that each year since 2013 has been warmest in recorded history.
Media may largely either minimize or ignore the increasing signs of climate change and GOP candidates may joke about it, but the next president must acknowledge and work to address this problem, as we play a major part in the slow but inexorable destruction of all that sustains us and our descendants. Fear of that reality should not paralyze us — it should mobilize us.
Beverly Roxby
Belfast