Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s failure to secure continued federal funding for the Northern Maine Regional Reentry Center has denied substance abuse treatment for one of our state’s most needy populations. Most federal prisoners have drug abuse backgrounds. Many completing their terms of incarceration will no longer have opportunities to receive substance abuse treatment and relapse prevention.
In order for many of those who are released from prison to be successful reintegrating into Maine communities, they will need such counseling. As stated by former Bangor police Chief Ron Gastia, who managed the center, “If the treatment isn’t available, then you’re setting them up for failure.”
It is obvious from a treatment perspective that too many Maine families continue to be devastated by a deadly opioid crisis. Rather than helping addicts transition to careers and lives of purpose, Poliquin has lost an important battle in Maine’s war against the opioid epidemic.
Mary D. Moore
Bangor
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