http://www.opposingviews.com/...
Here's a little more information about the legislation:Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage may veto legislation for a second time that would increase access to an anti-overdose drug for heroin users.The Huffington Post reports that while a spokesman for the governor said that LePage couldn’t comment on the bill yet, his track record points to a veto. LePage favors a tough-on-drug-crime agenda, while the Maine legislature has pushed for a more lenient approach that would save drug users’ lives and get them on track for recovery.
Last year LePage vetoed a “Good Samaritan” bill that would protect drug users who called 911 to report an overdose. Now he is set to veto legislation for the second time to increase access to Naloxone, a pharmaceutical known under the trade name Narcan that can reverse overdoses from heroin, morphine, and other opioids, by giving it to rescue officers and the families of drug users. - Opposing Views, 2/12/14
http://bangordailynews.com/...
So why would LePage veto this?Rep. Sara Gideon, D-Freeport, will present LD 1686, An Act to Address Preventable Deaths from Drug Overdose, to the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, where it will be open for public comment Wednesday morning.The bill would authorize the possession and administration of naloxone hydrochloride by a wide array of people, including emergency responders such as EMTs, firefighters and police officers, as well as addicts and their friends and family.
The drug is a fast-acting opioid antagonist, meaning it blocks the effects of opiates such as oxycodone and heroin. Its administration during an overdose can stop the overdose in its tracks, for long enough to get the victim medical attention. It is often administered intravenously, but can also be dispensed in a nasal mist.
The bill would also create a civil and criminal immunity for those who administer naloxone or other similar drugs to someone they believe to be suffering from an opiate overdose.
“We have a public health emergency, and we have the ability to address that emergency and save people’s lives,” Gideon said in a news release Wednesday morning. “The people who overdose are our neighbors, our friends and family. Their deaths are preventable.”
According to the release, 15 states and the District of Columbia have naloxone programs. As reported Tuesday by the Seattle Times, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, is calling on more states to adopt naloxone program.
In Maine, heroin use and overdoses are on the rise as a result of successful efforts to prevent prescription opiates such as oxycodone from entering the black market. In 2012, fatal heroin overdoses quadrupled over the previous year, from seven deaths to 28. The attorney general’s office says that number is likely to grow again when 2013 data is compiled. - Bangor Daily News, 2/12/14
And LePage's reasoning is all BS:“His main objection is his belief — and I have to emphasize ‘his belief’ because there is no evidence that supports this at all — his belief that increasing the availability of Narcan or naloxone will lead the drug user or drug abuser to have this feeling of invincibility,” Gideon explained.In fact, a wide body of research has found that naloxone and is a safe and cost-effective method of preventing deaths. The American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, and the World Health Organization all support policies to expand access to the drug in the very same ways that Gideon’s bill proposes. The director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, first began calling for wider access to naloxone back in 2012.
On Tuesday, Kerlikowske explicitly endorsed legislation like Gideon’s, pointing out that law enforcement has a critical role in preventing overdose deaths. “We cannot arrest our way out of the drug problem,” the nation’s top drug official said.
LePage appears to disagree. The GOP leader has taken a hardline stance against drug use during his time in office, one that sharply diverges from his fellow governors in the New England area. As a growing heroin abuse problem continues to plague Northeastern states, the top officials in Vermont and New Hampshire have pledged to dedicate more resources to treatment and intervention. But LePage has favored enforcement over treatment, emphasizing the need to arrest and prosecute drug offenders.
Although LePage has promised to hire 14 additional agents for Maine’s Drug Enforcement Agency — a move that will cost about $1 million — he has repeatedly cut funding for substance abuse programs that are intended to provide treatment to low-income residents struggling with addiction. For several years in a row, he’s proposed budgets that include big cuts to substance abuse services, and some clinics are warning that they’re now on the brink of being forced to close. He also approved a policy change to Maine’s Medicaid program that cuts off coverage for substance abuse treatment after two years.
“We all know that we have an opioid abuse epidemic in Maine and implementing barriers to treatment is not going to help the problem,” Alane O’Connor, a nurse in the state who prescribes drugs intended to help with opiate addictions, told the Morning Sentinel after the new Medicaid policy took effect at the end of last year.
Last year, LePage also rejected a bill that would have increased medical assistance in the case of a drug overdose by ensuring that the people who seek out help can’t get in trouble with the law. - Think Progress, 2/12/14
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Just another reason why this Tea Party clown needs to be booted out this year. If you would like to donate or get involved with Mike Michaud's (D. ME) campaign, you can do so here:In a veto message last year, LePage said the 2013 naloxone bill "would make it easier for those with substance abuse problems to push themselves to the edge, or beyond. It provides a false sense of security that abusers are somehow safe from overdose if they have a prescription nearby."LePage's assertions are not supported by current medical research.
Karla Wagner, an assistant professor at the University of California San Diego's School of Medicine, studied a program on Los Angeles' Skid Row that taught intravenous drug users how to administer naloxone. Her research concluded that knowing more about the overdose treatment did not encourage drug users to use more. Instead, it appeared to do the opposite. More than half of those who went through the program actually reported decreased drug use at a follow-up interview, Wagner's study found.
In 2010, police and firefighters in Quincy, Mass., started carrying naloxone as part of their standard equipment -- a scenario similar to that envisioned in Gideon's bill. Since then, naloxone has been credited with reversing 188 overdoses in Quincy alone, and the head of the Boston suburb's police narcotics unit has become a naloxone evangelist.
In general, Massachusetts communities with overdose awareness and naloxone distribution programs had reduced overdose death rates compared to those without, a 2013 study found.
Wagner said she is not familiar with any scientific research that points to increased drug abuse as a result of naloxone access, even as naloxone access programs seem to be expanding across the country. She noted there may be a very good reason for that.
"Somebody who is opioid-dependent who receives naloxone is going to go from overdose and not breathing to opioid withdrawal in a very short amount of time, and that's not a pleasant feeling," said Wagner. "So when you talk to people who have had their overdose reversed, they're not eager to do it again." - Huffington Post, 2/12/14
