A bipartisan bill before Maine lawmakers aims to take a public health approach to substance use disorder in part by ensuring that every county has a receiving center for people seeking help.
The bill would also repeal penalties for possession of small amounts of drugs.
Democratic Representative Anne Perry is one of the bill's sponsors.
"We all know that quitting smoking is hard and that it can take many attempts while receiving care from a trusted health provider. Dependence on opioids and other substances is no different," Perry said. "It is time for us to treat addiction the way we treat other addictions, and not like a moral failing that needs incarceration to fix."
But Gordon Smith, Maine's Director of Opioid Response, disagrees. He says Maine is one of the few states in the nation treating incarcerated people for drug addiction. And Smith says having a treatment center in every county is not financially feasable.
"The notion that we would have 16 of these is not realistic. It's aspirational. It's just, it would break the bank," Smith said. "It would be significant in the coming months if you could see a receiving center in Portland, Lewiston, Augusta and Bangor."
Smith says the state has made investments in treatment, prevention and harm reduction and he's now seeing a decline in overdoses and mortality for the first time in five years.
The bill drew emotional testimony from some members of the legislature and the public who have personal experiences with addiction.
