BANGOR, Maine — A lack of detox and treatment options for people struggling with heroin and opiate addiction, an array of financial and other barriers to their ability to recover and a need for approaches to addiction that are better than jail were just a few of the topics brought up Wednesday night during a session aimed at coming up with ways to help the community wean itself off drugs that are beginning to result in record numbers of overdose deaths.
The more than two-hour Opiate and Heroin Forum and Listening Session drew more than 100 people to the University of Maine at Augusta’s Bangor campus.
A panel of four leaders in the effort to curb drug addiction and its consequences outlined the problem as each saw it.
“It’s very obvious that we have to band together,” said Patty Hamilton, the city’s health director, noting that Bangor, a regional service hub, has been dealing with the addiction problem for years.
Four out of five of those who become addicted do so through the use of legal prescriptions, Hamilton noted.
Dr. Noah Nesin of Penobscot Community Health Care said medical professionals are in large part to blame for the current situation because they continue to overprescribe painkillers, particularly oxycodone, which he believes led to the region’s heroin problem.
In 2014, he said, 80 million opioid pills were prescribed in Maine, a state with a population of 1.3 million. That, he said, is “madness.”
Bangor police Chief Mark Hathaway was clearly frustrated by the lack of detox options in the area, and many in attendance felt the same.
“We have a treatment option problem — that is without question,” he said. While police departments in other parts of the country have been able to develop programs through which those with addiction can access treatment, his officers can’t largely because such programs don’t exist here.
Hathway is hoping lawmakers will approve a bill that includes funding for a 10-bed detox facility in Bangor. While that is not enough to solve the problem, it would be a step in the right direction, he said.
Robert Fickett, who is in recovery after a 12-year addiction to opiates, credits the Bangor Area Recovery Network with helping him overcome it.
He noted that the stigma around addiction remains a problem.
“The pathway to addiction doesn’t start in a dirty back room,” he said. “It starts in doctor’s offices, dentist chairs, emergency rooms and Grandma’s medicine cabinet.
“I think there are solutions we can offer people besides a jail cell,” he continued.
When asked later what he thought might do the most good, Fickett said, “Empathy. Just empathy.” Instead of judge people with addictions, the community should treat them like they would their own family and friends.
“If people had given up on me, I’d be dead today,” he said.
Wednesday’s discussion was sponsored by the city’s Public Health and Community Services, Maine Community Foundation, Maine Health Access Foundation, Maine Medical Association and the Maine Opioid Collaborative.
The ideas generated at the forum will be shared with Maine Opioid Collaborative task forces to help inform their recommendations for federal, state and local actions to address the heroin and opiate epidemic Maine is experiencing.
The Maine Opioid Collaborative was created last year to work on prevention and harm reduction, increasing treatment and looking at ways law enforcement can address the state’s drug problem. Its leaders include Thomas Delahanty, U.S. attorney for the District of Maine; Maine Attorney General Janet Mills; and Maine Commissioner of Public Safety John Morris.
There is another heroin forum planned in Bangor at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 4, at the Cross Insurance Center, which will be attended by U.S. Sen. Angus King. The forum, sponsored by the One Life Project of the Bangor Daily News, will be “world cafe” style, with questions about the opiate problem in Maine at each table for people to answer before moving on to another table and another set of questions.