MEXICO — Members of the River Valley community gathered Thursday night at Mountain Valley Middle School to share stories of their addictions to opioids and other drugs and how they became free of those addictions. One young woman told of the horror of having to be the one to tell doctors to end life support after her […]
drug addiction
Posted inRiver Valley, sj-web
‘Enough is enough’: Addiction, recovery and hope, in their own words
RUMFORD — Dale Korhonen Sr. was sitting in prison, anguished that he couldn’t be with his little girl as she battled cancer, when it hit him: He had to stop using and selling drugs. If he didn’t, he’d never be there when his family needed him. It wasn’t easy, of course. “Easy” has never been […]
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Posted inLetters
Why should taxpayers pay?
I agree with Gov. Paul LePage, who wants to charge anyone who receives Narcan to save their life after an overdose of an opioid. Why should the state or taxpayers pay for it? I am a citizen of Maine, now retired, but when I was working in the shoe shop, I had to pay more […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Legislature has bill that aims to restrict painkiller prescriptions
AUGUSTA — The Legislature is poised to pass a bill sponsored by Gov. Paul LePage that would put the state on the front line of a national movement to monitor and restrict opioid painkillers. The Republican’s bill would limit prescriptions to seven days for acute pain and 15 days for chronic pain, and cap dosages at […]
Posted inMaine, Nation / World, New England, sj-web
Governors ask Congress to expand opiate treatment options
MONTPELIER, Vt. — The six New England governors are urging leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives to expand the types of medical practitioners who can prescribe drugs to treat opiate addiction. In a Tuesday letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan and minority leader Nancy Pelosi, the governors ask the House leaders to support the […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Steven Kassels: Drug addiction is a medical issue, not a political issue
We, as a society, have arbitrarily differentiated between acceptable and unacceptable drug addictions. Why else would our politicians enter into medical decision making? After 50 years of accepted science, we know that the cost of not treating opiate addiction is up to 12 times greater than the cost of the treatment itself (National Institute of […]
Posted inLetters
R. Wilner: Addicts need help
As long as there is a demand for illegal drugs, someone will supply them if they can make a buck. Law enforcement can put dealers in jail from now until the cows come home, and someone else will step up to sell drugs if there is money to be made. No one, when they are […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Experts look for new ways to treat newborns suffering narcotics withdrawal
When Anne’s baby boy was born at Eastern Maine Medical Center, his little body began a painstaking withdrawal from narcotics. In his first days of life, the infant unwittingly craved the methadone his mother began taking during her pregnancy to help her kick an addiction to prescription painkillers. Doctors administered tiny amounts of methadone, a […]