Maine Students Talk About Their Road to Recovery in Docuseries

A new docuseries tackles the realities of drugs and recovery, as told by Maine students, health professionals, and members of the Scarborough Police Department.

Most of us understand Maine has a drug problem and could, likely, point to at least one person in our lives that has been directly affected by drug and/or alcohol abuse. But substance use is not about one person. It's not a singular thing. Families are affected, as are friendships and coworkers. It's a community problem, and so a community of students have come together to try and offer some hope, and educate everyone, even the very young, about the dangers of drugs.

The series, 'Voices of Hope - the Rugged Road to Recovery' is the brainchild of a group called the SEED Team. SEED stands for Students Empowered to End Dependence in involves students from High schools in Gorham, Scarborough, Windham , and Yarmouth, as well as Morse High School in Bath. Each episode is 30 minutes long, and includes stories from young people who have gone through recovery. As you'll see in this trailer, this is a problem that affects people from all walks of life.

I had the chance, recently, to interview the Executive Producer of the docuseries, David Packhem. He talked about how much being involved in the project has meant to him personally, and how important it is for people to watch. The stories will not only help viewers understand the recovery process but, perhaps more importantly, how they were introduced to substance use.

Recovery for them is a daily exercise or a practice, much like exercise or meditation, and when they deploy it, day in and day out, they really transform their lives. In my mind, they go from being someone who was looked down upon because of their problems with substances, to people we can admire based on how they've transformed.

You can hear my interview with Dave, as part of our Sunday morning program 'Maine Concerns' below.

'Voices of Hope - the Rugged Road to Recovery' airs at 7PM Fridays on WAGM-TV in Presque Isle, and Saturdays at the same time on WABI-TV in Bangor, and WGME-TV in Portland.