AUGUSTA, Maine — A bipartisan coalition backs a sweeping proposal to revamp Maine’s approach to its overdose crisis and decriminalize possession of various drugs, but it faces opposition from Gov. Janet Mills in a sign of an uphill battle ahead.
The bill from Rep. Lydia Crafts, D-Newcastle, has support from numerous Democrats and more libertarian-minded Republicans including House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham of Winter Harbor, and Reps. Lucas Lanigan of Sanford and David Boyer of Poland, along with groups such as the Maine Medical Association and the liberal Maine People’s Alliance.
But the Democratic governor’s opioid response czar, Gordon Smith, called the measure “more aspirational than practical.” Maine Drug Enforcement Agency Director Rick Desjardins said decriminalization would “take the wrong direction in reducing deaths and drugs in our state.”
It shows continuing tension between advocates seeking a shift away from punitive policies and a more traditional approach from Mills, a longtime prosecutor and former attorney general who has expanded the state’s opioid response since taking office in 2019, including a Good Samaritan law and a bill requiring on-duty police officers to carry naloxone.
Despite that, overdoses remain at record highs. Maine had 723 confirmed and suspected fatal drug ones in 2022, the third consecutive year the state broke its record for that mark, according to the latest report from the attorney general’s office and the University of Maine. From January 2023 to November 2023, the state had 559 fatal overdoses, per the latest data.
The bipartisan proposal would establish a fund to support Maine providers and agencies offering substance use treatment and related services, including mental health care, peer support and harm reduction.
It would aim to create at least one receiving center in all 16 counties where, instead of going to jails or emergency rooms, police and community members can bring people for substance use screenings and referrals. The Legislature would have to annually add a “sufficient” amount of money to fund the receiving centers and other services the bill calls for.
The bill would also decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs including heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines, hallucinogens and prescription medications like codeine. The liberal Maine People’s Alliance said possession charges account for roughly three-quarters of drug arrests in the state and that existing laws most affect Black residents, women and mothers.
Lanigan and Crafts each said they have loved ones who have struggled with substance use, and several family members of overdose victims and people in recovery testified Wednesday in support of the bill. The Republican recalled the time his son overdosed on Christmas Eve several years ago.
Lanigan and his wife performed CPR and administered Narcan to revive their son before paramedics arrived. At the hospital, Lanigan said he “begged” for services and was told to bring his son home unless he was suicidal or threatening others. Lanigan “scrounged together $5,000” and found a detox center to accept his son, who had hidden heroin in his wallet.
“I’m fearful that if I would have brought him home that morning we would have woken up to my son being deceased,” Lanigan added during a news conference before a legislative hearing.
His son had additional bouts of homelessness and a suicide attempt before he finally received intensive treatment that has helped him reach 14 months of sobriety, the lawmaker said.
The bipartisan coalition backing the bill is notable, as drug treatment consensus has not been a given in Maine.
Former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, vetoed a 2016 bill to allow pharmacies to dispense the overdose reversing drug naloxone and once described it as “fake security for drug addicts.” Mills has negotiated with advocates but frustrated progressives who wanted more sweeping drug reforms, such as by opposing a major decriminalization bill in 2021.
Mainers are realizing it is “no longer acceptable to simply say we don’t have the beds” to treat people, Crafts said.
“Our neighbors, our loved ones [and] our family members are dying,” she said.
