Dear Editor,  

Stories about the opiate addiction epidemic appear daily in the papers but many people in our community are unaware of how serious this problem is in our own community.  It is the nature of addiction to be secretive and to appear invisible but, truly, thousands of Knox County residents are addicted, many of whom are your neighbors.  

The statistics about the scope of this crisis are telling and overwhelming.  The Mid-Coast Recovery Coalition (MCRC) understands that very personal stories from individuals, families and friends are what is needed to help the public really understand.  MCRC will become a platform for your neighbors who live at “Ground Zero” in this epidemic to help you and others understand exactly what is going on in our community.  

We can no longer afford to stand-by as so many babies are born drug affected, so many teens becoming addicted by age 15, so see some many people languish in jail due to their addiction where they get no treatment and to see so many families struggling in survival mode every day.  The human cost is beyond measure and the financial cost to our society is growing out of sight more every day.  If we don’t start to do something soon, the costs will bankrupt our community and state budgets.  

We also can no longer stand-by as both the state and federal government do nothing. 

We need to take ownership of this crisis.  Please join us for an informational, motivational and action oriented meeting on Wednesday, August 30 at 6 p.m. at the Samoset Resort, called “Reaching for Recovery:  MCRC Update and Next Steps”.  There will be a panel of speakers to inform, inspire, educate and motivate you.  By the end of the evening, you will understand that you need to support actions to heal our community.  

MCRC’s goal is to raise $300,000 this year, needed to help us continue to make progress against the terrible epidemic threatening the health of our community. 

On behalf of the MCRC and the individuals, families and community we are helping, we thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Ira Mandel

Executive Director of Mid-Coast Recovery Coalition

(207) 701-1182, info@midcoastrecovery.org