HOULTON, Maine — Two tribal communities in Aroostook County will benefit from grant funding that will help address substance abuse issues.
U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King announced on Oct. 15 that four Maine Native communities will receive $440,011 from the federal Department of Health and Human Services to respond to substance abuse and jump start community health projects. These four grants will primarily address the impact of the opioid epidemic on Maine’s tribal communities.
“No community is immune from this heartbreaking epidemic that has taken its toll on too many of our peers, friends and neighbors,” they said in a joint statement.
“This funding will give Maine’s tribes additional resources to combat the opioid crisis and protect the health of their community members.”
The Aroostook Micmac Council will receive $64,142 to fund the Micmac Community Health and Wellness Project. Tribal officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment about exactly how the funding will be used.
Wabanaki Health and Wellness will receive $140,526 to “increase the capacity of both the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and Wabanaki Health and Wellness” to provide medication-assisted treatment and develop additional substance abuse prevention initiatives, the senators stated. Located in Bangor, Wabanaki Health and Wellness is a not-for-profit organization serving tribally-enrolled Native Americans in Penobscot, Washington and Aroostook counties. According to its website, the agency provides case management, administers free HIV testing and hosts peer recovery meetings, among other services.
Clarissa Sabattis, chief of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, said Tuesday that the funding will “help us promote health and wellness in our community.”
The grant money also will “allow us to focus on developing and strengthening supports for people living with addiction,” she said. “It would also allow us to look at medication assisted treatment as a potential service provided to our citizens, identify gaps in capacity, and give us an opportunity for planning.”
Officials at the federal Centers for Disease Control noted that prescription opioid drug overdoses have increased threefold in just the past three years, with 45 percent of those who are addicted to prescription opioid painkillers also using heroin.
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, medication assisted treatment, which is at times used in opioid treatment programs, combines behavioral therapy with medications to treat substance abuse disorders. The most common medications include methadone, naltrexone and buprenorphine.
