Maine senator Angus King recently wrote a letter about the crisis affecting the nation’s population from the opioid epidemic.

He had recently watched a documentary, “Heroin, Cape Cod, USA,” and, he writes, “Rehab professionals describe heroin’s effects as a ‘hijacking of the brain.’ This epidemic is hijacking far too many lives now – the lives of those addicted and of their loved ones.”

So here is a personal story about how drug addiction has affected my family, as it has other families in our small community of Windham.

When I first met my husband, Keith, he had two small children, a daughter, 7 years old, and a son, 3. We all lived in Tyler, Texas, and I often had the children on the weekends while their mother worked as a nurse at a large hospital. How I enjoyed these bright and happy children. We made cookies and we raked leaves together. Each day we walked down the wooded path behind our home accompanied by our dog, whose name was “Dog,” and all the neighborhood dogs. At night I read them stories and sang them their favorite songs. We began a lifelong love for each other.

Two years later, because of the oil crisis in Texas, Keith lost his position with the city of Tyler. Unfortunately, there were no jobs for Keith in Texas, so he and I moved to Maine, leaving our children behind.

Back in Texas, our son began to exhibit questionable behavior, and his mother quickly sought professional help. Even at his young age, he said, “I miss my Daddy.” Before too many years, our son was diagnosed and prescribed drugs for attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Years later, when this little child had reached his teen years and was already in trouble with the law, he told me that he had learned to manipulate his ADD meds to suit his mood. Meanwhile, his mother did everything in her power, both monetarily and emotionally, to help our son rid himself of his addiction. To no avail.

Too soon, he was in prison with a 40-year sentence for using and selling drugs. Yes, a 40-year sentence! I can barely stand to type the words! His wise mother worked assiduously to make sure that this young man with a brilliant mind had access to some college courses. He has now earned two associate diplomas and has been trained in a skill that will help him find a job when he is released.

Now, nine years later, and too late for our son, the nation is only now beginning to understand that prison is not the place for treatment of addiction. As I write this, our son called to say that he will soon be released on parole into “the free world.”

What lies in his future? Let us hope that we, as a community and a nation, find the wisdom and techniques to control the “hijacking of the brains” of our cherished children.

Sally Breen lives in Windham.