Harm reduction advocates hold a banner at a State House press conference that reads “Every overdose is a policy failure. We need action.” (courtesy of Maine Recovery Advocacy Project)
Overdose Awareness Day on Saturday is not just a day to light candles to mourn those who have died, explained Courtney Gary-Allen, organizing director of Maine Recovery Advocacy Project.
“It’s a day where we take action so that we don’t have to keep lighting candles,” Gary-Allen said.
Mainers plan to gather in Bangor to mark the awareness day in conjunction with similar events in other states across the country. However those in Maine’s recovery and harm reduction community decided this year that holding space for grief could not be the day’s sole purpose.
The rally will include a call for state legislators to authorize overdose prevention centers, otherwise known as safe injection sites, after previous attempts at such reforms failed.
“Drug use is going to happen,” Gary-Allen said. “How do we protect our communities, both the people who are interacting with the substance and the general public?”
At safe injection sites people can use their own drugs under supervision, providing those working at the center the opportunity to connect people with a variety of health and wellness services, such as treatment options like medications for opioid use disorder, withdrawal management programs and residential or outpatient treatment programs.
Engaging with treatment is voluntary and not a requirement to use the safe injection sites, however studies have found that these sites increase substance use treatment uptake by connecting people with the healthcare system in a non-judgmental environment as well as prevent overdose deaths.
The organizers of the day of action in Maine — which in addition to ME-RAP, includes the state-certified syringe service programs Church of Safe Injection in Lewiston and Needlepoint in Bangor, as well as the Maine Drug Policy Coalition and Maine People’s Alliance — chose Bangor as the location for three reasons.
While overdoses in Maine have decreased recently, the issue is particularly prevalent in Bangor, as is the unhoused crisis. Bangor is also currently seeing a spike in those with human immunodeficiency virus, known as HIV, and harm reduction advocates see the sterile supplies that safe injection sites could provide as a possible antidote to further spreading.
Past legislative reform attempts
In 2023, there were 607 confirmed or suspected overdose deaths in Maine. Although that represented a 16% drop from the year before, advocates and lawmakers say the state is still in the midst of a serious crisis.
“I don’t want to lose sight of that,” Gary-Allen said of the decrease. “That is an important and valid reality that happened this year, and I want to give credit to all the people that deserve the credit,” she said, particularly noting Gov. Janet Mills and the Legislature.
Maine’s statewide system of treatment services has been growing and is continuing to expand.
The supplemental state budget passed this spring included $4 million to expand medication-assisted treatment in county jails and $5 million to start crisis receiving centers in Kennebec, Androscoggin, Aroostook and Penobscot counties.
Also this legislative session, advocates secured funds to create a sustainable revenue source for the more than 20 recovery community centers in the state. Recovery community centers are independent nonprofits led by local community members that provide non-clinical, peer-support services for people with substance use disorder.
In addition to building capacity, $750,000 in existing state funding this year went toward adding nine recovery coaches, and $1.25 million in federal funds went toward boosting the distribution of naloxone, which rapidly reverses opioid overdoses.
Meanwhile, attempts to permit safe injection sites have stalled.
Lawmakers considered a proposal to permit these sites last session, but opted to study whether this method would be effective at preventing overdose deaths after failing to garner the more widespread support needed to pass the bill outright.
A report to the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future is due by February 15 that outlines findings and proposed legislation on the issue. Gordon Smith, director of opioid response for the Governor’s Office of Policy and Innovation, said the working group has assembled but not yet held meetings. Smith also noted that the funds appropriated to support the working group were not available until July 1.
“There will be an announcement in September and all of the meetings of the group will be open to the public,” Smith said.
Gary-Allen and other advocates want to see the bill as originally intended approved next session. The original proposal sought to authorize — but not require — municipalities to approve safe consumption sites, but it also would have provided immunity from arrest or prosecution for clients and staff members, which Gary-Allen views as key.
Advocates have for several years also pushed for reforms to decriminalize the possession of some illegal drugs. Proponents argue that instead of criminalizing drugs, the state should view addiction as a public health issue.
Amid opposition from Mills, such a measure last session, which would have also established 24/7 crisis centers across the state, was turned into a study of drug decriminalization. However, that study bill did not ultimately pass after the Legislative Council opted not to staff and fund it.
“We cannot allow 600 people a year to die,” Gary-Allen said, referring to the 2023 data. Therefore, she said the call to action Saturday is about “holding both of those things: celebrating what we did do well together and also recommitting on behalf of those people.”
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