Although this is election year and a few months prior to the date, a young man named Tony Hoffman showed up at the Biddeford Middle school to talk about drug addiction. When I saw that he did not have a huge crowd here, it saddened me because this is what another friend of mine, Dennis Monroe, has been advocating for over a year; he even brought up Operation Hope in Scarborough, Maine, to our city representatives.

I am appalled that some people would use this for their own gain into politics. Being a survivor of domestic violence and an Al- Anon member, I believe we need to talk more about this and not a one-time deal before election day.

Now if there was a speaker there on anything other than drugs and alcohol, you would have seen a huge crowd, especially if it was a famous movie star or singer. This young man came out to tell his story, just like another young man that tried to get his story out there without feeling like people weren’t listening. We need to wake up to the reality that domestic violence and sexual abuse is a reality, and statistics state that there is always drug and alcohol involved.

Don’t wait until it happens in your family to do something about this, even if you have to do it to help a friend. We need more public awareness and not a cover-up in your city.

Now if people want to make this a political theme, well, I know for a fact that Matt Lauzon and Matt Stone would be two good candidates to work on this and get the people to come and see for themselves. I wish I could have voted for these two, but unfortunately, I can only vote for one, since I’m not in their district. All voices will be heard.

Barbara Corbeil
Biddeford