BRUNSWICK

Libertarian Congressional write-in candidate and Brunswick resident Jim Bouchard touts himself as the “only candidate in Maine’s 1st District race who openly admits to a past of drug abuse.” Yet Bouchard still supports the legalization policies of Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson which, he maintains, will prevent addiction.

Bouchard recently spoke candidly regarding his own past drug abuse and why decriminalization of all drugs will do more to curb opioid addiction than the war on drugs.

Asked how long he struggled with drugs, Bouchard admits, “The sad thing is, I don’t remember — at least two years and as long as three where the problem was really acute.”

Bouchard said he began doing drugs in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when he became involved in the music business where drugs were plentiful.

“I found that when I really got into it, I didn’t have to buy any. People were just willing to share,” Bouchard said.

Bouchard said the mere proximity of drugs isn’t what turns someone into an addict — he said there are usually other influences. For him, it was a severe lack of self-worth.

“Most of the drug addicts I’ve known have had issues with self-worth — valuation of their life and I certainly didn’t feel like my life was worth anything,” Bouchard said.

He said simply one thing led to another, and suddenly there was a problem.

Beginning with marijuana, Bouchard soon became what he called, a “test pilot” — people would bring out a bowl of mixed pills and use him as a guinea pig to see what each one did.

“There were pills to get up in the morning, pills to go down at night — offset what ever effect you were having. As far as pot goes, I worked myself up to six to eight bong hits a day,” Bouchard said.

“We were living in this old 1950s vintage trailer — we even put a sign above the door that said, ‘We are the people our parents warned us about.’ That’s how bad we were,” Bouchard said.

The turning point came when, unbeknownst to his group, they began smoking pot that their dealer had laced with angel dust. That was when he decided to quit.

“I’m pretty lucky to be around. There’s a lot of times, at that time in my life, a lot of people were betting I wasn’t going to make it to 30 years old,” Bouchard said.

Given such a past, it might be surprising Bouchard supports the Libertarian platform of decriminalizing drugs.

“The fact is, it works. Portugal has been doing it for 14 years now,” Bouchard said. “They had the same fears — I understand people’s fears and they’re legitimate.”

In 2001, Portugal decriminalized the use and possession of small amounts of all drugs, preferring to view the situation as a public health problem instead.

Bouchard said there has been a steady reduction in addiction rates, reductions in crime, death and AIDS rates in the Portuguese program.

“Fifty percent of our federal prison inmates are drug offenders. Nearly 20 percent of our state prisons. As far as the ‘war on drugs,’ we’ve lost,” Bouchard said, noting many of those in prison are there for “three strike” laws or borderline trafficking — not violent offenses.

Bouchard said the combination of decriminalization and treatment fueled the Portuguese program’s success, and that the public benefits extend even further by decriminalizing. He explained that when someone goes to prison for a nonviolent drug related crime, it affects their ability to find work when they are released, often forcing them to continue to live off some form of welfare.

Scott Gagnon is the director of operations for Ad Care Maine, a group that offers training and educational events to individuals and organizations that encounter substance abuse. Gagnon is also the Director of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an advocacy group opposed to the legalization of marijuana.

Gagnon points out that it’s important to realize that Portugal decriminalized, but did not legalize drugs.

“That is, they have simply addressed the penalties for low-level possession,” Gagnon said, “they have replaced those penalties with an administrative violation which means a person would still need to appear before this commission to determine what the outcome will be.”

Gagnon said currently, Maine has decriminalized possession of marijuana for up to 2.5 ounces.

“That all said, I would agree with the idea that we should be looking at the penalties in Maine associated with possession of small amounts of drugs,” Gagnon said. “We definitely should be moving towards a criminal justice system where we are linking people with addiction to help, not a prison sentence.”

Gagnon said it is important to note that Portugal did not legitimize a commercial industry, where meth and cocaine shops could legally sell their wares.

Gagnon said addressing criminal penalties makes sense, but says it would be a mistake to look at Portugal as an excuse to legalize and sanction commercial drug industries for these dangerous substances.

Bouchard said political parties need a more flexible approach if drug addiction is going to ever be properly addressed — something he’s hoping the Libertarian party will be able to bring to Washington.

dmcintire@timesrecord.com