The Bangor Daily News published an extraordinary editorial on April 26 calling upon all of us to do our part to address the opioid abuse epidemic. As chief of a local hospital emergency department and president-elect of the state’s largest physician organization, I am very proud of the steps being taken to reduce the tragic consequences of this insidious epidemic.
The May 4 event, the One Life Project, organized by the BDN is but one example of the many steps that Greater Bangor is taking that can be duplicated in other parts of the state and country. Already, the work of the Bangor Area Controlled Substance Working Group (an initiative of the Community Health Leadership Board), particularly the community-wide prescribing standards, is inspiring the work of others across the state.
On a statewide level, the recommendations of the Maine Opiate Collaborative will be released on May 6 at a public event in Hallowell. The collaborative was created by U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine Thomas Delahanty, Maine Attorney General Janet Mills and Commissioner of Public Safety John Morris. Fueled by nearly 50 volunteers who are experts in treatment or prevention of substance use disorders or in recovery themselves, task forces organized around treatment, prevention, harm reduction and law enforcement met nearly 30 times to develop comprehensive solutions to the opioid abuse epidemic.
A lot of the positive initiatives have been put together by law enforcement officials who are tired of arresting the same individuals time and time again and not being able to find treatment for them. These enlightened officers have come to understand that substance use disorder is a chronic disease, not a character flaw. The increasing use of naloxone (Narcan) by police officers (and many other public servants such as EMTs) is yet another example of their leadership.
Maine’s medical community has also stepped up to acknowledge responsibility for a portion of the crisis and its obligation to do everything possible to fix it. The Maine Medical Association has presented more than 50 educational sessions over the past decade, with many of them featuring the value of the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program, which helps prevent “doctor shopping.” More recently, the association broke with precedent and supported legislation to limit the amount of opiate medication that can be prescribed in the state. Gov. Paul LePage and the Legislature supported the far-reaching LD 1646, An Act to Prevent Opiate Abuse by Strengthening the Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program. This law is intended to do nothing less than change the culture of the way pain is treated in the state.
And in the past three months, the association has sponsored 20 community forums, with support from the Maine Health Access Foundation and the Maine Community Foundation, inviting all Mainers to come together and talk about the problem and solutions to it. Many of the suggestions offered by the public have been incorporated into the Maine Opiate Collaborative task force recommendations, noted above.
Maine’s opioid abuse epidemic will not abate overnight, and these efforts will continue. Recognizing the need for creative and bold solutions, Maine Medical Association is partnering with Quality Counts to launch Caring for ME, a collaborative effort that aims to bring together a wide set of partners to promote shared messages, educational resources, and practical tools for health care providers. The goals of Caring for ME are to support prevention efforts, maintain a compassionate and evidence-informed approach to chronic pain management, improve the safety of opioid prescribing, appropriately diagnose addiction when it exists and improve access to effective treatment for patients with substance use disorder.
Finally, I want to acknowledge the real heroes in this crisis: the thousands of patients in recovery working everyday to beat this insidious disease — and their loved ones. They deserve our compassion and support. Doing so is something we can all do, helping where we are able, as so appropriately requested in the BDN editorial.
Dr. Charles F. Pattavina, M.D., is chief of emergency medicine at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor.