PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — With persistent drug addiction problems much like other parts of the state, Aroostook County could benefit from a dedicated drug treatment court, said Maine Attorney General Janet Mills.
Drug overdoses claimed the lives of 378 Mainers in 2016, including 20 in Aroostook County, with 84 percent of all the deaths caused by opioids, according to statistics from the Office of the Attorney General.
Statewide, overdose deaths increased 38 percent between 2015 and 2016 and the number more than doubled in Aroostook County, partly as a result of more heroin containing the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl, according to an analysis of the data by the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center.
In one high profile incident, on Dec. 27, 2016, five people in Presque Isle overdosed on heroin and one died, due to what police believed was a batch heroin containing fentanyl.
Overdose figures for the full year of 2017 have not been released.
Mills said that in addition to expanding treatment options for people with addiction, the state should work to expand the use of drug treatment courts, which are currently in place in Cumberland, Hancock, Washington and York counties.
Drug courts hold specialized court proceedings for individuals with addiction facing non-violent criminal charges and aim to help those individuals turn their lives around and avoid prison time through a host of requirements, such as gaining employment and passing regular drug tests.
Mills said that drug court programs can help individuals facing a recurring cycle of addiction and crime, as well as save taxpayers the costs associated with incarceration.
“They truly do reduce the recidivism rate. They really do work,” said Mills, one of 11 Democratic candidates for governor, during a President’s Day visit to Presque Isle. “I’m encouraging the chief justice and the Legislature to support a full-blown drug court in The County.”
Currently, the District Attorney of Aroostook County is running a pilot program that uses a similar approach, known as “deferred disposition,” allowed under a 2004 state law, Mills said.
The program allows the DA “to take a plea to a charge and postpone sentencing for a year or two,” Mills said.
“It’s like an informal probation. They get treatment, pass drug tests, become employed and pay child support. At the end of that period, the DA would reduce the charge or possibly even dismiss it outright.
Mills said that starting a drug court program in Aroostook County would bring those kinds of options to more people facing addiction and related criminal charges.
“It would be good to expand on that (pilot program). If we funded a drug court in this area, we could double or triple the amount of people eligible,” Mills said. “It’s fiscally smart and it’s the humanitarian thing to do.”
Drug treatment courts have been used in Maine since the early 2000s and as of 2016, there were 247 active participants in the state’s adult drug courts, Mills said.
Funding for drug courts’ additional staffing resources often comes from a mix of state and federal sources, said Mills. Drug court programs can also save taxpayer funds by diverting individuals from incarceration, she said.
According to the most recent drug court report by the Maine Judicial Branch in 2015, drug court graduates had a significantly lower recidivism rate than other individuals on probation for drug offenses. Of the drug court graduates between 2011 and 2014, 16 percent ended up reoffending within 18 months, compared to approximately 40 percent of drug offenders on probation.
In her time as attorney general, overseeing an office that prosecutes most of the felony drug cases in the state, Mills said she has seen Aroostook County’s drug problems going through phases.
“Aroostook County was hit by a lot of meth labs for a while.” More recently, she said, “heroin and fentanyl are coming into the state and going all over. Aroostook County is not immune from that.”
