BREWER, Maine - Opiate dependency is a disease, and those suffering from addiction should have the same ready access to effective treatments as patients with cancer or diabetes. That was one of the major messages echoed by many speakers at U.S. Sen. Angus King's forum on opiate addiction Tuesday morning in Brewer.
King's forum, looking at how the federal government ought to address the problem, comes as the Maine struggles with a surge in heroin use that's pushed overdose deaths to record highs.
Two-hundred-eight people died of drug overdoses in Maine last year. Fifty-seven of those deaths were due primarily to heroin. Both numbers set a record in Maine. And this year, the trend shows no signs of slowing down. According to the Maine Attorney General's Office, there have been 105 overdose deaths so far in 2015, with heroin believed to be responsible for 37 of them.
"We read about overdoses and we read about people going into treatment. And we really have to multiply those numbers by two or three or four" to come up with the actual number of people that are affected in some way by one person's addiction or overdose, King noted in opening remarks at the forum, "because it's families that often bear a huge part of the brunt of this problem."
Families like Dr. Lynn Ouellette's from Brunswick. "We have three children. I even brought a picture," Ouellette, a psychiatrist, said as she unfolded a rumpled photograph of her daughter and twin sons, as Senator King, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and National Drug Control Policy Director Michael Botticelli listened from the front of the room.
Dr. Thomas Keating, Ouellette's husband and the childrens' father, stood at her side, tears welling in his eyes. "Our son Brendan, he passed away in December 2013, shortly before his 23rd birthday, of an overdose of heroin," Keating said.
Brendan Keating had lots of treatment for his heroin problem, but was not able to overcome it. Prior his son's struggles, Thomas Keating, an oncology physician, says he had an arrogant attitude about addiction. No longer. "We need to talk about it. We need to, please, avoid blame. Addiction, as I have found, is an incredibly powerful force."
Treatment experts, health care providers and law enforcement officials at the forum all echoed Keating's call to end the stigma surrounding addiction. The discussion then shifted to solutions. What works? King wanted to know. How can Washington help?
Bill Lowenstein, a former associate director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse, called for more use of medications like Suboxone to treat addicts. "You can be in medication-assisted treatment, be a recovering person, contribute into society, all those pieces around that."
Others spoke in favor of allowing nurse practioners and even psychiatrists to prescribe Suboxone without having to go through training and certification. But not all treatment experts think that's a great idea. Dr. Meredith Norris is medical director of Grace Streert Services in Lewiston.
"I agree with increasing availability of Suboxone," she says. "But as my experience of trying to browbeat my colleagues into doing it I don't really want people who don't know what they're doing to be treating addiction in Maine."
Others called for more funding from Washington to help fill gaps caused by the steadily decreasing number of in-patient treatment beds in the state.
Earlier this month, Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins signed a letter with fellow U.S. senators calling on U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to increase access for opiate addiction treatment.