Nothing is more unsettling than to read articles on the front page of the newspaper regarding our ongoing opioid epidemic, and to see how our front-line responders are still in the awareness phase is rather disturbing. It’s been a few years now with countless people dying and we’ve basically have done nothing in our state to get treatment facilities in place to help the many people addicted have the chance for a happy and healthy life once again. Every person deserves the chance to put addiction behind them.

As a lifelong Mainer it’s almost embarrassing to see years pass by with more and more people dying on a daily basis from an addiction that surely wasn’t in their life’s plan. And until we get out of the awareness phase and into taking action nothing will change.

We need treatment, treatment, treatment. We need to pass the reigns over to the addiction specialists instead of law enforcement. They’ve got enough to tend to. We need to free up the funds and put state treatment facilities in place. We need to take care of our own who are struggling dearly and deserve help.

Todd Pooler

Augusta