On Jan. 31, Gov. Mills’ office released Maine Opioid Response 2021: A Strategic Action Plan. The goal: “Reduce the negative health and economic impacts of opioid and other substance use disorders on individuals, families, and communities in Maine and, in so doing, give hope to all persons with a substance use disorder that recovery is not just possible, but probable.”

On March 9, L.D. 967 was introduced in the Legislature by Rep. Anne Perry of Calais. L.D. 967, An Act to Make Possession of Scheduled Drugs for Personal Use a Civil Penalty, would reschedule drug possession as a civil infraction. The defendant would have the option of a $100 fine, or the person may choose to be referred for an evaluation regarding substance use disorder.

If we are going to meet the goal of the governor’s plan, it begins with, as the document states, “reducing the stigma associated with (substance use disorder) and identifying it as a chronic medical condition.” How are we supposed to do that if we keep arresting those people? That’s a direct question for Gov. Mills and Gordon Smith, director of opioid response. The former has formally opposed this bill, while the latter has been confoundingly absent from all public conversations regarding the bill.

For the sake of my family and my community and my state, please align your policy with your rhetoric. Eleven Mainers are dying every week, and keeping them in a world where their medical condition makes them a criminal is not working.

David Getchell
Gray

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