There was broad support at a public hearing before Maine's Health and Human Services Committee Friday for a proposal that would establish a voluntary certification program for recovery residences. Sometimes referred to as sober houses, the residences are supposed to be safe places where people can stay while recovering from addiction, but a lack of regulation has some lawmakers and advocates concerned.
Those concerns stem from cases of fraud and abuse at recovery residences in other states. Maine has about 100 recovery residences, and Jennifer Christian of the Alliance for Addiction and Mental Health Services says their quality varies.
"Thankfully we have not seen huge cases of fraud and abuse in Maine as we have seen in Florida and elsewhere,” she says. “But word-of-mouth tells us there are some that do not meet safety standards or decency requirements."
A bill sponsored by Democratic state Senator Shenna Bellows would establish standards for voluntary certification, which Christian says would help providers, individuals and families identify quality residences. The bill would also create a subsidy program for people to reside in certified recovery residences.
A similar proposal passed last year but was unfunded. Maine's Director of Opioid Response, Gordon Smith, told committee members that federal dollars could be used to pay for the current proposal.
