Posted inFranklin, sj-web

USDA secretary, Bruce Poliquin hear needs of rural areas in Farmington

FARMINGTON — Representatives of several professions and nonprofit services from Maine’s rural counties met Wednesday with the U.S. secretary of agriculture and stressed the need for federal support for high-speed internet access, telehealth services and fighting opioid addiction. USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue and U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine, participated in the discussion at Franklin Memorial […]

Posted inMaine, sj-web

Next Maine governor to face opioid crisis

AUGUSTA — Maine’s next governor will inherit a host of challenges — including a graying population, struggling paper mills and underfunded schools — that have vexed Blaine House occupants for decades. None of those predecessors has entered office at a time when opioid addiction is claiming so many lives in Maine, however. Maine has failed to reverse […]

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Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web

Complicity plays part in current opioid crisis

By Robert Gebelhoff The Washington Post For years, the opioid crisis was described as one of negligence. In this narrative, doctors overprescribed pills that shouldn’t have gone to patients and pharmaceutical companies overzealously promoted medications while playing down the risks. But new reporting demonstrates how this version, as worrying as it sounds, might understate the […]

Posted inLetters, sj-web

Preventing drug abuse

In 1971, Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs. This nation has been losing that war since it began. If millions of people are addicted to drugs and the success rate for treatment is something like 10 to 20 percent, then the “war” is lost. Today, the medical field is turning toward prevention in the form […]

Posted inRiver Valley

Rumford seminar focuses on cannabis role in opioid, heroin addiction

RUMFORD — Several dozen people attended a seminar Thursday evening at the Rumford American Legion Hall to hear how cannabis oil can help fight heroin and opioid addiction. The seminar was organized by Don Hamann of Rumford, a state-licensed medical marijuana caregiver since 2011. He became embroiled in controversy after the River Valley Healthy Communities […]