Maine considers a new strategy in battle against opioid epidemic: decriminalization Proposed legislation could make Maine the second state to stop arresting people for possessing small amounts of drugs such as opioids, and instead steer them toward treatment. Share Courtney Allen, policy director for Maine Recovery Advocacy Project, poses for a portrait recently outside the Maine State House in Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal “But heroin is not something you can just stop doing,” she said. She was not able to stop for 12 years. She did sex work. She contracted HIV. She was often homeless. And she was arrested more than two dozen times, mostly for drug possession. The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram has agreed not to name her because she works with people who use drugs and is worried about putting them at risk.