Opioid epidemic brings ‘large metropolis’ issues to rural Maine
Frustrations boiled over for River Valley residents at a city corridor assembly in Mexico on Friday night time as they shared harrowing particulars of how substance use, homelessness and crime locally has affected their lives.
Some attendees shared their very own private tales of restoration from drug or alcohol use; whereas others described the deep pains of dropping relations and family members from a deadly overdose.
Proof of the opioid epidemic is difficult to overlook of their communities alongside the Androscoggin River, they stated. Needles are strewn about their colleges’ athletic fields, in style strolling trails and in entrance lawns.
Gary Dolloff, a softball coach for Mountain Valley Excessive College, stated whereas as soon as his gamers had been in a position to arrive to video games early to heat up or squeeze a couple of minutes of additional observe in, now they’ve to attend for him in case there are needles within the subject, or individuals sleeping within the dugout who he’ll ask politely to depart.
“We have to assist individuals get into restoration and take again the city,” Dolloff stated in an interview after the assembly.
Amongst most audio system was a way that the River Valley had by no means seen the dimensions of those issues earlier than, they usually demanded a path ahead of cohesion, motion and sincerity.
On the different finish of their feedback and poignant questions within the Mountain Valley Center College gymnasium had been their elected and municipal officers, who mirrored their considerations and tried to offer solutions and options.
More often than not, the one solutions that they had had been: We’re listening, we’re annoyed and we wish to assist. Elected officers additionally inspired residents to testify on laws they deem essential and let state legislators know the issues they’re dealing with.
The concept for the city corridor got here from Mexico Selectman Kevin Jamison, who stated he’s been listening to the rising considerations from River Valley residents concerning the trio of drug use, crime and homelessness within the communities alongside the Androscoggin River.
Jamison stated that Mexico, with a inhabitants of about 2,700, is witnessing encampments of unhoused individuals the place there by no means was any, and drug exchanges out within the open.
“That is the stuff you see within the large cities, and we’ve by no means seen something like this in little Rumford and Mexico,” Jamison stated in an interview.
When addressing these points from the legislation enforcement and municipal authorities ranges, Jamison stated there was some lapses in communication between neighborhood leaders.
The city corridor served as a possibility to place these leaders on the identical web page and resync their efforts, whereas additionally demonstrating the necessity to the governor and Legislature about funding gaps within the River Valley.
“These little communities can’t deal with the inflow,” Jamison stated, “We are able to’t take care of it money-wise, and we are able to’t deal with it services-wise.”
Police departments stretched skinny
Mexico Police Chief Roy Hodsdon stated in an interview earlier than Friday’s assembly there’s been a rise in each arrests and repair calls in 2023 in contrast with current years.
In 2022, the Mexico Police Division had a complete of 149 arrests and summonses for all offenses, in contrast with 107 the yr earlier than. This yr, the division had a complete of 135 by the tip of July.
The identical goes for service calls, Hodsdon stated.
His division has obtained 2,560 complaints this yr, only some hundred away from eclipsing the two,942 it noticed within the entirety of 2022.
“It’s simply not stopping,” Hodsdon stated.
The sheer quantity of calls is stretching his four-officer division, which has been an officer brief since mid-summer. Hodsdon will typically assist in responding to these calls, together with a report on Thursday of individuals occupying an deserted constructing.
Hodsdon anticipates service name numbers to hit 3,800 by the yr’s finish, and that’s a conservative estimate, he stated. Lots of these calls are to report needles in public areas, which the division will dispatch an officer to gather.
“It’s not unusual to get a few calls every day or extra to report needles,” Hodsdon stated. “And we get it, you already know. The general public doesn’t really feel snug choosing them up. However, we’re inundated with these varieties of calls.”
Others come from individuals experiencing psychological well being crises or calls to deserted buildings the place individuals are residing.
At Friday’s city corridor, Rumford Police Chief Tony Milligan shared related statistics. He stated his division obtained 6,463 calls in 2022, a 54 % improve from 5 years earlier than. His officers are burnt out, Milligan stated, reflecting the strains additionally confronted by the Mexico Police Division.
One number of service calls that’s trending downward, nevertheless, are overdoses from opioid use, in accordance with Hodsdon.
“I’d say {that a} yr in the past, we had been seeing much more overdose calls than we’re seeing now,” Hodsdon stated. “And I attribute that to the nice factor that everybody is carrying Narcan,” a model of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone. “From residents to legislation enforcement, you already know, we’ve been carrying it since 2014.”
Promising developments in overdoses
Based on Maine’s month-to-month overdose experiences, Oxford County has skilled 10 deadly overdoses between this January and the beginning of August.
On the similar time final yr, the county had 18 deadly overdoses, growing to 36 by the yr’s finish. Equally, nonfatal overdoses are trending downward, too — there have been a complete of 205 as much as the beginning of August this yr, in contrast with 410 in all of 2022.
Berta Broomhall, deputy chief of the area’s EMS service Med-Care Ambulance, stated on the city corridor there are promising developments within the River Valley, extra particularly.
For the 11 cities and 566 sq. miles that Med-Care covers, there have been 16 overdoses in 2022, 5 of them deadly, Broomhall stated. So far in 2023, there have been 9 overdoses, and solely one among them deadly.
Broomhall added that those that overdosed are additionally changing into extra receptive to carrying naloxone or getting linked to restoration assets.
“There’s a change there,” Broomhall stated. “If we work collectively, we are able to make a distinction.”
Kathie Williams, director of the Larry Labonte Restoration Heart in Rumford, has been a part of that push to get naloxone within the arms of River Valley residents.
Her group distributes the life-saving drug from their location off of Waldo Avenue and trains anybody who’s eager about the right way to use it.
“We hand out extra Narcan to the family members of individuals affected than individuals which are truly doing the medicine,” Williams stated in an interview.
Williams stated the heaps of judgment that was as soon as solid on these with substance use dysfunction has waned, as a result of many River Valley residents have been touched by opioid use instantly, inflicting a change of coronary heart.
“And the stigma is lessening as a result of extra individuals are being affected, extra family members have been affected,” Williams stated. “I don’t know if you’ll find anyone round right here that hasn’t been affected a technique or one other.”
When discussing the context of Friday’s city corridor in an earlier interview, Williams stated she hoped the assembly would convey consciousness to the dearth of assets within the River Valley and Oxford County at massive with regards to rehab facilities and sober housing.
“Possibly these legislators will hear that and move on that we’d like some assist,” she stated. “I imply we’ve subsequent to nothing assets round right here.”
Frustrations with the courts
Many attendees peppered legislation enforcement officers, together with native District Lawyer Neil McLean on the city corridor, demanding solutions as to why individuals they see arrested for offenses like housebreaking, drug trafficking or home violence are let again out on the streets a day later.
Mexico Police Chief Hodsdon acknowledged the considerations of some River Valley residents who’re annoyed with how among the division’s arrests are enjoying out in court docket.
“After which you already know, you’re seeing within the papers … that these instances are being dismissed,” Hodsdon stated in an interview. “And the victims develop into upset as a result of” they’re asking: “‘What wasn’t executed proper?’ Or, ‘Why aren’t I essential sufficient to deal with this name?’”
“I do know the court docket system is inundated with calls,” Hodsdon stated. “I completely perceive. [But] we’ve to determine a manner of holding individuals accountable, for my part.”
McLean answered the viewers members’ questions Friday night time by citing the overwhelming burdens confronting the state’s courts and his district, particularly.
He stated District 3, which incorporates Oxford, Franklin and Androscoggin counties has essentially the most pending instances statewide, with a complete 4,800.
When addressing the sentences of convicted criminals, which attendees described as too mild, McLean stated he and his prosecutors do their greatest to talk on victims’ behalf and push for more durable penalties.
“The DA just isn’t all highly effective, we’re one among three voices” McLean stated, explaining the roles of judges and protection attorneys.
“We all know that the issue is getting worse and extra instances are coming in, our prosecutors are working arduous” to battle for you, McLean stated. He inspired crime victims to achieve out to him on to get a greater understanding of the instances and arguments his workplace is pursuing.
The River Valley’s state legislators additionally attended Friday’s city corridor, and Sen. Lisa Keim, R-Oxford, stated they’re specializing in these points on the State Home in Augusta, and that the River Valley was not alone within the issues it’s dealing with.
She advocated for extra funding for district lawyer places of work and jails, which she stated are overcrowded, resulting in the discharge of accused criminals.
“It’s a battle for {dollars},” Keim stated, and as an alternative of focusing spending on hurt discount packages like clear needle exchanges, she stated there needs to be extra money put in the direction of restoration and legislation enforcement.
Challenges to pursuing restoration
The dearth of rehab facilities means anybody trying to enter in-patient restoration has to journey out of the realm to search out it, abandoning their household and help system in Oxford County, Williams stated.
Then, to remain on their restoration path, the county is equally desolate in designated sober housing.
“If we had sober housing right here, [then] individuals can reside in a secure place, an excellent atmosphere … and be capable to stay a part of the neighborhood,” Williams stated.
Oxford County is slated to obtain roughly $2.6 million over the subsequent twenty years from settlements with firms accused of contributing to the opioid epidemic statewide and regionally, The Maine Monitor beforehand reported.
Williams has some concepts of the place that cash could be most successfully distributed, together with expansions for the Larry Labonte Restoration Heart and building of sober housing, and has made that identified to the Oxford County Fee.
Commissioner David Duguay, whose district contains Mexico and Rumford, stated in an interview that the county is within the early phases of assembling a committee to find out the place the settlement cash will go.
Along with the enter of these committee members, Duguay stated the city corridor could be an excellent alternative to listen to from different county residents to listen to what points needs to be prioritized.
“We’re making an attempt to do issues that may be sustainable,” Duguay stated, with the county selecting to simply accept the settlement cash in increments, somewhat than all of sudden.
He stated the county at present has round $240,000 readily available from current funds, and can obtain $50,000 yearly over the subsequent 17 years. Williams stated there’s nothing extra sustainable than stable housing.
“It’s an excellent place to present any person a soar off, to have the ability to get them began,” Williams stated. “Sober housing is sustainable. As a result of individuals do should work in sober housing they usually should pay the hire. I believe that will be an exquisite place to spend some cash.”
Housing struggles
The River Valley faces extra shortages in its provide of emergency household housing, in accordance with Michelle Worthley, director of homeless providers for Rumford Group Properties.
She stated the emergency shelter in Rumford has a typical waitlist of 20 to 70 individuals per day, and staffing shortages compound her group’s skill to offer important providers.
Worthley, too, has seen developments different River Valley residents dropped at consideration on the city corridor assembly. Worthley’s group persistently has to show individuals away who’re actively utilizing medicine, as a result of they’ll’t enable individuals below the affect of medication or alcohol into housing the place kids and households are current.
“And the issue that we’re seeing greater than ever earlier than, is all people that’s seeking to come into shelter is below the affect and has completely no intention or will to get sober,” Worthley stated.
She and her group do their greatest to hyperlink these with substance use dysfunction to the suitable individuals and assets, together with Glenn Gordon, an outreach clinician for the Oxford County OPTIONS program who connects individuals to restoration providers and remedy.
Worthley stated there are misconceptions concerning the efforts her group places into making these hyperlinks. Neighborhood members would possibly assume that as a result of there are people who find themselves unhoused and at present utilizing, it’s as a result of Rumford Group Properties turned them away.
That’s not the entire story, Worthley stated.
“We’re making an attempt. Some individuals deny housing as a result of they don’t wish to get sober, or they’re not able to get sober,” Worthley stated. “So what will we do with that, as an company?”
Samantha Cummings, a restoration coach on the Larry Labonte Restoration Heart, advocated for these with substance use dysfunction on the city corridor.
She inspired neighborhood members to not stigmatize individuals in energetic habit, and which you could’t pressure somebody into restoration.
“Folks in habit aren’t dangerous individuals,” Cummings stated. “They’re simply making dangerous selections.”
Worthley recognized the identical funding priorities as Williams with regards to remedy assets and housing.
“Proper now, there isn’t a funding to my understanding for anyone that’s searching for substance use remedy,” Worthley stated. “So possibly extra funding to assist out with that in order that we are able to get some households again on monitor and desirous to get sober. And as soon as they’re sober, as soon as they’re keen to do the work, we’re proper right here.”
This story was initially printed by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit and nonpartisan information group. To get common protection from the Monitor, join a free Monitor e-newsletter right here.
