COMMUNITY OUTREACH

In response to Mount Dessert Island residents expressing increasing alarm over escalating drug activity, on May 29, 2003, we co-sponsored the public forum "Not In Our Town!" to stop drug trafficking and drug abuse in Southwest Harbor and surrounding communities. The goal was to educate residents to the kinds of drugs currently prevalent on Mount Desert Island, their effects, treatment options and the law enforcement response to drug crimes and drug-related crimes. Over 250 residents attended and listened to speakers representing law enforcement, local and state authorities, education and treatment. The forum was a powerful community response that was a first step in interrupting the flow of drugs through MDI and the state of Maine.

Panel Members at the Drug Forum Panel Members at the May 29th 2003 Drug Forum: Jill Goldthwait, Former State Senator, Bar Harbor, ME; Roy McKinney, Director, Maine DEA, Augusta, ME; Mary D'Alessandro, Executive Director of Acadia Family Center, Southwest Harbor, ME; Matthew Erickson, Assistant Attorney General, Bangor, ME; Dan Johnson, Child & Adolescent Services, Acadia Hospital, Bangor, ME; Lt. Chapais & Chief Tims, Police Department, Southwest Harbor, ME, Barbara Royal, Director of Open Door Recovery Center, Ellsworth, ME; Judge John Romei, District Court, Washington County, ME.

As a direct result of the public forum, three new and important programs have been created;

  • The county-funded Hancock County Anti-Drug Task Force is comprised of three local law enforcement officers working with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency. Since the Task Force's inception in January 2004, indictments for drug-related crime have more than doubled. 
  • In March 2004, the Open Door Recovery Center in Ellsworth initiated the second program, a 10-week pilot substance abuse treatment program in the Hancock County Jail for selected drug-addicted offenders. Fifty percent of the prisoners who successfully completed the in jail treatment program sought more intensive, community-based outpatient treatment following their release. 
  • Lastly, the Hancock County Deferred Sentencing Project, a court-ordered substance abuse treatment program, was designed to divert drug-addicted offenders from incarceration into treatment. Operational in February 2005 and modeled closely after Maine's Adult Drug Treatment Court, selected drug-addicted offenders are placed in rigorous and demanding community-based, outpatient substance abuse treatment programs post plea where they are monitored closely for at least one year by a multi-disciplinary team including a judge. 

The MDI Alcohol & Drug Abuse Group, Inc. is proud to have played a key role in co-sponsoring the May 2003 "Not In Our Town", the follow-up 2004 Forum, and the development of these three very important and cutting-edge programs.



Education and Prevention:

As part of our education and prevention efforts, MDI Alcohol & Drug Abuse Group, Inc. does the following:
  • Sponsors public forums

  • Presents informational programs on heroin, other opiates, and addiction to eighth graders at local schools

  • Sponsored the Project Charlie Curriculum for 4th graders at local elementary schools; this consists of an educational presentation followed by a series of four facilitated small discussion groups

  • Offers educational programs & seminars designed specifically to individual organizations needs

    Thom Rutledge Thom Rutledge
    Embracing Fear book cover Book Cover
  • Bring prominent nationally known speakers to MDI for seminars. Most recently in October 2004 lecturer Thom Rutledge presented "The Adventure Between Our Ears". Thom Rutledge is a psychotherapist and author of several books, including Embracing Fear, also Life Without Ed, and he has a story in the new Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul. Previous speakers brought to the island by MDI Alcohol & Drug Abuse Group include William Manning, David York, Rokelle Lerner, Ann Smith, Robert Ackerman, Dick Schaefer, Robert Subby and Terry Kellogg.

  • Supports Chemical Awareness Day for all sophomores at MDI High School

  • Participant in an Island wide OSA (Office of Substance Abuse) sponsored prevention team, which is led locally by MDI Hospital Behavioral Health Center. The two primary goals of this group are to achieve a 15% reduction in tobacco use and a 10% reduction in binge drinking among local youth over the next three years.