Machias – Attorney General Steven Rowe and Commissioner of Public Safety Michael Carata will be the keynote speakers later this month at twin summit meetings on Washington County’s drug problems. Rowe will speak at the Machias summit, which will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, at the University of Maine at Machias Science Building Lecture Hall. Carata will deliver the keynote address at the Calais summit, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Thursday, May 15 at the Calais Motor Inn. Rowe and Carata will offer the state’s perspective on the opiate abuse epidemic that has devastated Washington County for the past several years. The daylong sessions are sponsored by the Washington County Drug Action Team, a consortium of more than 40 elected officials, educators, social service providers, medical personnel and law enforcement officers who are working to address the county’s problem. The team was created almost a year ago when the Washington County Commissioners asked four volunteers to address the overcrowding at the Washington County Jail that stems the county’s large population of drug abusers. The four appointees were: Barbara Drisco, a Columbia Falls selectman and member of the county budget committee; Rep. George Bunker, D-Kossuth Township; Sheriff Joseph Tibbetts; and Commissioner Winola Burke. Drisko, the coordinator of the team, said Thursday that the goal of the summits is to involve the general public in finding a solution to the county’s drug problem. The drug action team hopes to come out of the conference with information that can be used in a strategic plan for a countywide response to substance abuse, she said. A panel presentation in the morning will focus on two major issues: what has been accomplished to solve the problem; and what is needed to make the process work more effectively and efficiently. Panelists include: Tibbetts, who will speak on the county’s drug court program; Nancy Green of Neighbors Against Drug Abuse; June Ashmore of Residents Attacking Drugs; Lt. Michael Riggs, the drug investigator for the Washington County Sheriff’s Department; Sgt. Donald Smith, the school resource officer; Dianne Tilton, the director of the Sunrise County Economic Council, and Marci Sorg, a research associate at Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy. Two Washington County businessmen – Bill Guptill of Guptill Farms Inc. and Herb Hanscom of Hanscom Construction Inc. – will speak on how the drug problem has affected business in the county. Both summits will include first hand accounts of addiction by recovering addicts and their families and small group sessions where participants can suggest what they believe the county can do; and open-mike and question-and-answer sessions. There is no charge to attend the summit. For more information, call Drisko at 483-2072. Participants can register online at www.oocities.org/wcdat/2003.
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