FORT KENT, Maine — The Maine Opioid Collaborative and local stakeholders will hold community forums in Fort Kent and Presque Isle to discuss the impact of heroin and opiate addiction in local communities.
Both forums will be held on Monday, March 7. Fort Kent’s will take place from 12 noon-2 p.m. at the University of Maine at Fort Kent Nadeau Hall teleconference room. Presque Isle’s session will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at The Aroostook Medical Center’s McCain Conference Rooms on the second floor of the East Wing.
All are welcome at the forums; there is no charge for participation. Organizers are looking both to help get information out about the impacts of heroin/opiate addiction and to gather community members’ input about their experiences around opioid use, their perspectives and their suggestions for moving forward.
The presentations will begin with a short panel discussion from professionals in law enforcement and the treatment, medical, prevention and recovery communities about what is happening in the area. There will be a facilitated discussion after the panel presentation, and the results will be shared with the Maine Opioid Collaborative Task Force to help inform their recommendations for federal, state and local actions.
Confirmed speakers in Fort Kent include Cameron Grange, MD, Fish River Rural Health Center; Jennifer Desjardins, LADC, St. John Valley Recovery Center; Doug Levesque, LCSW, LADC/CCS Aroostook Mental Health Center/Behavioral Health Therapist for Fish River Rural Health Center; Chief Tom Pelletier, Fort Kent Police Department; Paul Berube, representing the recovery community; and Michelle Plourde-Chasse, MPH, PS-C, Community Voices.
Fort Kent Police Chief Tom Pelletier said, “Maine has started down the slippery slope of opiate addiction. Mostly it is in southern and downeast Maine, but it certainly has moved into Aroostook County.”
Though the numbers of heroin and opiate users seen by the police departments in the St. John Valley are “at the low end” compared to the rest of the county, he said, “We want to stay on top of it. We take it very seriously and want to hit it before it gets to the point where it gets out of control.”
Behavioral Health Therapist Doug Levesque said, “We are trying to educate the public about a more holistic, natural approach to treating pain.” He said research has shown that painkillers actually create pain by disrupting the brain’s natural processes and by creating dependencies and addiction.
“The brain is rewired when you add opiates and heroin,” Levesque said.
Panelists for the Presque Isle event include Chief Michael Gahagan, Caribou Police Department; Peter McCorison, Aroostook Mental Health Center; Clare Desrosiers, Diversion Alert; John Thyng, PA TAMC Emergency Department; and Craig Holder, Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Participants are asked to register for the events. Contact Carol Bell in Presque Isle, Project Director for Healthy Aroostook, a program of Aroostook County Action Program, at 554-4129 or cbell@acap-me.org. There is a registration link at www.surveymonkey.com/r/OpiateForum.
Opioid abuse is a key issue in Maine. In September 2015, the three lead agencies in the state charged with the responsibility of enforcing state and/or federal drug laws joined together to announce the Maine Opioid Collaborative. The US Attorney for the District of Maine Thomas Delahanty, Maine Attorney General Janet Mills and Maine Commissioner of Public Safety John Morris appointed three task forces organized around the optics of prevention/harm reduction, treatment and law enforcement to begin work immediately.
The task forces have met to assess the problem, identify solutions, and develop recommendations for local, state, and federal actions. To that end, and with support from Maine Health Access Foundation and Maine Community Foundation, task force leaders announced in mid-December that they would convene 10 or more community forums on this important issue in every public health district across the state. Forums are also planned this month in Alfred and Lewiston.
For more information, contact Michelle Plourde-Chasse, Project Manager for Community Voices and forum panelist, at michelleplourdechasse@sad27.org or (207) 316-8071.
