Please go to WGME-TV to read the full article.

by Taylor Cairns

~~Excerpt

PORTLAND (WGME) — Maine’s public health crisis of opioid use is well documented. In 2017, Maine saw more than 400 people die from drug-induced deaths.

Some recovery service experts in Portland say they’re hoping to change the way people see addiction by changing how people talk about it.

“Language is really powerful,” Kelli Fox said, an assistant clinical professor at the University of New England. “How we approach someone, and the kind of messages we send, can impact how someone feels.”

She says that simple switches like saying “substance use disorder” instead of “addict” can influence whether or not a person would continue treatment.