Some of the recommendations have already been achieved, such as the limits on opioid prescribing established in PL Chapter 488.   Others are readily achievable. But other recommendations are expensive and time-consuming and will require time, effort and state or federal funding to accomplish. What follows are highlights of the Task Force recommendations.  The full set of recommendations will be available on either the U.S. Attorney's website or the MMA website soon and each issue of the Update for the next few weeks will feature one or more of the Task Force recommendations.

Prevention/Harm Reduction Task Force

Goal 1:  Promote good public health and safety, and reduce the harmful effects of opiate use.

• Objective 1.  Increase understanding of harms and decrease stigma surrounding opiate and heroin use disorder.

• Objective 2:  Decrease youth use of opiates and associated risk factors.

• Objective 3:  Reduce unnecessary access to legal opiates.

• Objective 4:  Decrease the number of drug-affected babies born in Maine each year.

• Objective 5:  Decrease opiate overdose and death in Maine.

• Objective 6:  Increase opportunities and decrease barriers to recovery for people with substance use disorders.

Goal 2:   Strengthen and enhance Maine's public health infrastructure to prevent and reduce opiate use disorders and overdose deaths.

• Objective 1:  Enhance the state's capacity to implement a comprehensive approach to prevent and reduce opiate use disorders.

• Objective 2:  Increase district and local level capacity to prevent and reduce opiate misuse and overdose in Maine.

Detailed strategies are included with each of the objectives in the Prevention Task Force reports.

The Treatment Task Force divided its recommendations into those presented by a Treatment Team and those recommendations involving specialty populations such as adolescents, women and children (also drug courts and and corrections).  

The Treatment Team recommendations are extensive and call for:

• increasing Medication Assisted Treatment  (MAT) in primary care;
  
• rationalizing prescribing for opioids;
  
• immediately expanding addiction treatment services - prioritizing the integration of MAT across the state;
  
• enhancing availability of insurance, and addressing the needs of special populations.

The Law Enforcement Task Force identified five areas of discussion and established subcommittees in order to develop recommendations covering each of the five subject areas:  

1.  Cultural/Attitudinal Education and Training

2.  Investigation

3.  Law Enforcement Community Initiatives

4.  Problem Solving Courts

5.  Custodial Treatment & Re-Entry with Treatment

Through the course of its work, the Law EnforcementTask Force ultimately made the following recommendations:  

• train all existing and new law enforcement personnel on the science of substance use disorders;
  
• identify, investigate, and prosecute the most dangerous drug traffickers;
  
• support and encourage effective law enforcement diversion programs;
  
• increase statewide access to effective problem solving courts; and,
  
• provide custodial treatment for county jail inmates with substance use disorders and to provide case management services for re-entry into the community.  

A huge thank you goes to the co-chairs and many volunteers who worked for over six months to prepare these far-reaching and detailed recommendations. Work will continue to proceed in order to measure the implementation of the recommendations.