The epidemic in Maine with prescription drugs is becoming overwhelming. Whether authorities are aware of how massive the issue has become has yet to be seen or heard about in the press. If only we could treat every drug epidemic as was done with bath salts, Maine would be a better, safer place.
Because bath salts were so foreign to us, it became a front-page topic and state officials basically scared away that drug by making trafficking in it punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Why can’t there be such enthusiasm when it comes to all drugs? Some of them have been a problem for a number of years but, because they are not endangering other people in such a violent way as bath salts, it goes unnoticed as just a problem that will always be.
Our forefathers did not live and die in Maine just so today’s youth could throw away their lives on drugs that should be monitored on a weekly basis, if not by the state, then by the doctor responsible for writing the prescription.
The majority of the people receiving those prescriptions are preying off addicts, charging them more than a dollar a milligram to feed a very hard addiction to break.
Without the temptation of so easily available drugs, this state could be a better, safer place.
Chelsea McLain, Peru
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