Kate Marone, director of Healthy Lincoln County (HLC), will address the Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club at its Thursday, March 23 dinner meeting, on what to expect locally with the legalization of marijuana in the next 12 months. Marone’s talk will address specific challenges to our communities such as:

• What does marijuana mean for our youth? (Sharing details of surveys we've done with teens and parents in Lincoln County, what they think about marijuana and the impact)
• What might this mean for our towns? Schools? Employers? Law enforcement? (including lessons from Washington, Colorado and other states )
• What are we working on and what can you do? (What’s up with the County’s and HLC-backed Substance Use Prevention Partnership- a local coalition addressing marijuana, as well as teen alcohol use, prescription drug misuse and opioids).

Marone is HLC’s liaison to the towns and community organizations in Lincoln County, overseeing programs in nutrition, food security and substance use prevention. Kate has been working in local community health for 12 years and has been with Healthy Lincoln County for a year and a half. She holds an undergraduate degree in social work, a graduate certificate in public health and a master's degree in health and risk communication.

Kate grew up in a military family which fostered her love of travel. However, she's always preferred small towns and is delighted to be settled on the midcoast. When she's not working for a healthier Lincoln County, Kate can be found exploring, spending time with her husband and black lab, cooking, hiking or snowshoeing.

The Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club is located at 66 Montgomery Road (off Route 96/Ocean Point Road) and meetings start at 6:30 p.m.

HLC founded in 2001

Healthy Lincoln County (HLC) is a local community health non-profit agency serving all of Lincoln County, Maine. HLC connects, convenes and supports a partnership of educators, parents, nonprofit organizations, health professionals, faith-based organizations, law enforcement, municipal leaders, funders, students, business leaders and other community members working together to ensure Lincoln County communities have the policies, systems, and environments in place to assure equitable access to health.

HLC began in 2001 as one of many local Healthy Maine Partnerships. Sixteen years later, it continues as a community health nonprofit agency focusing on strategies and interventions to increase access to healthy choices for Lincoln County residents, including substance use prevention, tobacco-free living, nutrition and food security and active, healthy living.

It is funded through a combination of state, federal, and local grants including the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Drug Free Communities Grant and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Maine DHHS SNAP-Ed Grant.