Medicaid expansion key to fight addiction
The issue of drug addiction has been thrust into national headlines, and its impact in Maine is evident. The true source of all drug problems is addiction.
Unfortunately, for low-income families struggling with addiction, access to medical treatment is often nonexistent. This is the case for two people I know. One was finally able to access treatment for heroin addiction. Through hard work and incredible, commendable perseverance, she got clean. But after two years of sobriety, she lost access to MaineCare, which was paying for her treatment. Unable to get help, her life has taken a downward turn in many ways, and, like many people struggling with addiction, the dreams she has are impeded.
The other person I know also is struggling with opiate addiction. Unfortunately, he too is unable to afford the high costs of treatment.
If we, as a society, are serious about defeating the epidemic of drugs and drug deaths, we cannot just abandon these people.
In years past, the Legislature has repeatedly voted to accept federal Medicaid funding that would allow both of these people and many more in Maine to access treatment for drug addiction, both giving the individuals and our state a new lease on life. Gov. Paul LePage, however, has vetoed it each time. This year, as we funded programs intended to fight drug use, it seems absurd that we are rejecting money from the federal government that could save lives, money and heartache.
Maegan Sanders
Bangor
Higher minimum wage means better future
During this year’s inevitable contentious debate over the minimum wage, I think it’s important to remember the human side of this issue. As a retired certified nursing assistant, making low wages, I worked 60 hours a week at two jobs while raising a child. Despite long hours, long nights and working weekends to take care of others’ loved ones, I often felt as though the baby sitter was raising my child while I worked. It was nearly impossible to make the rent. I couldn’t afford a table, so we ate on a cardboard box when we had enough food. We slept on the floor for months.
Unfortunately, stories such as mine are far too common. People I’ve known and loved have experienced the same tragic realities. Working hard and doing your best often just isn’t enough to get by.
One of my kids now has a family, one’s paying his way through college and one’s headed there soon. When I think of what I went through in my own life, and knowing things are, in many ways, even harder today, I worry about them. I worry about their future, and where they’re going, as all moms do.
As an infrequent voter, I’ve sat out many elections in the last few years, but for the minimum wage, a cause so near and dear to my heart, I’m going to fight for a better future for my kids and my two beautiful grandchildren, and I’m asking everyone to do the same.
Lorraine Laraway
Bangor
Support public pre-K
When the residents of Sedgwick go to the town meeting this March, they will have an opportunity to change the lives of the children and families who live here for the better. For the first time, the school budget will include money for a full day prekindergarten program and I am pleased to be able to support it.
Why does it matter? Prekindergarten provides a supportive environment that teaches the skills necessary to be ready to learn in kindergarten. It also provides screening to uncover learning, reading, speech and other problems that can be worked on before the child reaches kindergarten, potentially alleviating the need for special education services down the road. It also makes it more likely that children will be successful later.
We know that children who are constantly frustrated with their learning experiences more often don’t graduate, more often turn to drugs and alcohol, and more often end up in jail or in prison. So, we can either pay now and provide every child the opportunity to be successful in school or we can pay later for special education services, substance abuse programs and jails.
I know this means that taxes will probably increase, but I believe that it is worth every penny, even though I have no children or grandchildren who will benefit. I am proud to support a public prekindergarten program in Sedgwick and hope that all of our residents will come to town meeting and support it as well.
Pamela N. Siewers
Sedgwick
Addiction a symptom, not a disease
It is certainly true that the drug epidemic requires a community approach, and the work of Project Vision in Rutland, Vermont, is laudable, but that vision is not 20/20 because the approach is too nearsighted.
The opioid epidemic is not a disease; it is a symptom. The disease infects the entire body politic. Its clinical signs include maldistribution of wealth, a feeling that the American Dream is becoming a nightmare, the crushing of the middle class by banks too big to fail, anxiety over high student loans and a lack of good-paying jobs, high stress and pessimism, especially among the young.
Who can blame people for wanting to feel good? If the pursuit of happiness through education and plain old hard work seems futile and if an easier option appears, some will yield to the temptation to jump onto the treadmill to oblivion and from there to the obituary.
A farsighted view suggests the cure is going to be a lot harder than police and counselors can produce. Can government help? Not if the focus stays on pushers and addicts and we remain in denial about the underlying causes of the problem.
Gerald Metz
Addison
Horse farm a threat to public safety
There is a serious public safety issue at Dowry Farm in Houlton that the state must take seriously and address.
On Jan. 23, a horse escaped from the farm and was hit by a car in Littleton, killing it and injuring the driver. The horse’s owner, Jessica York of Houlton, told police she wasn’t sure how it escaped. But this is not a rare occurrence. In February 2015, 25 ponies broke loose and stampeded along Route 1.
The state ought to address the routine horse escapes at Dowry Farm that have resulted in injuries and create a risk to the public.
Valerie Babcock
Falmouth