AUDIO – DENIAL KILLS TOO –

Oct. 10, 2023 – Long before many Portlanders used the terms “encampment” or “substance use disorder,” I was a registered nurse at Maine Medical Center and treated many IV drug users who lived in the woods or on the streets. They usually came to the hospital with a serious skin or bone infection or maybe an abscess in their arm, neck or spine. They were sometimes combative or suspicious, refused help, often left against medical advice and then often would return to the hospital in the next one to three days, only to repeat the same behaviors. Addiction is a brain disease, and if that individual has experienced an overdose (much more common today, because of fentanyl), then they most likely have a brain injury as well.

Portland needs to acknowledge the substance abuse and subsequent behaviors that are occurring all around us. The refusal of many to accept a bed offered by the city was no surprise to me. People need to understand that you cannot expect someone in the grips of addiction is going to want to go to the shelter. City officials have to reach out beyond local community partners and engage the state, partner with MaineHealth, invite Sens. Susan Collins or Angus King to spend an afternoon at one of the encampments. More treatment centers, recovery facilities and transitional housing need to be established.

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