Despite spending more than $100 million a year, Maine’s drug crisis is getting worse

According to the report by MECEP and the ACLU of Maine, state and local governments spend $111 million a year – more than $8,000, on average, per drug arrest – on surveillance, arrests, prosecution and incarceration related to drug crimes. Those costs are rising and don’t count the economic consequences for those who are arrested, charged and incarcerated.

This all points to the fact that state and federal efforts to lessen substance use by treating drug possession as a crime aren’t working.

Click here to read the full story, first published April 4, 2022 in the Bangor Daily News.