AUGUSTA — The Maine House on Wednesday, with broad bipartisan support, passed an amended version of a Gov. Paul LePage bill that adds drug enforcement agents, judges and prosecutors to the state’s payroll in an effort to bring under control the state’s growing opiate drug problems.
The measure also increases funding to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to enhance drug treatment programs for addicts.
The bill, LD 1811, as originally drafted would have added 14 agents to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, four prosecutors to the state Attorney General’s Office and four district court judges to specialize in drug-crime cases.
Amendments to the bill scaled down the numbers to 10 drug agents, two prosecutors and two judges. Republican and Democratic lawmakers said the changes represented a reasonable compromise and was a step toward addressing the state’s growing prescription painkiller and heroin addiction problems.
But during a news conference Wednesday at the state’s Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro, LePage said he would veto any version of the bill that had fewer positions for law enforcement than he proposed.
He said what he originally asked for is only half of what the state needs to combat the growing drug-crime problems facing the state.
“I’m not playing games any more,” LePage said. “I’m tired of playing games. In the last two years, this Legislature has done nothing; it has no courage. It will not do what the Maine people want, and it’s time.”
The House passed the bill by a vote of 126-14. Those voting against the measure said it did not go far enough or it didn’t offer Mainers a chance to vote on marijuana legalization and taxation or that it did not adequately address drug treatment programs but instead left that effort largely to DHHS.
Democrats said they supported the bill because it now included funding for additional treatment but also recognized the need to give Maine law enforcement the additional resources it needs to fight drug-related crime.
“We know that treatment is the best way to reduce the drug epidemic and we are pleased that was put in the bill,” said House majority leader Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham.
State Rep. Mark Dion, D-Portland, House chairman of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, said the bill recognizes the scope and magnitude of the problem and takes clear steps to address it.
“This bill strikes a reasonable balance between the need to supplement the lack of resources for law enforcement for combating opiate and methamphetamine crime in the state and looks to return funds to accounts within DHHS for purposes of opiate treatment,” Dion said. “We went from 14 to 10 agents. That’s still a significant commitment.”
Dion said the funding proportions in the bill were based on Republican suggestions. He said even the most conservative lawmakers recognize that “both prongs (treatment and prosecution) need to be funded moving forward.”
He said reducing the number of addicts would reduce the demand for illegal drugs and drive down drug-related crime.
Dion said he hoped the strong bipartisan support of the bill would send a clear message to LePage that lawmakers recognize the crisis and want to address it. He said he hoped the Legislature’s budget-writing Appropriations Committee would now be able to work with the administration to find the estimated $2.5 million a year it would take to fund the legislation.
He said those who wanted to legalize marijuana and tax it to help pay for the expanded enforcement and drug treatment should address it in stand-alone legislation. He said a proposal that would allow voters to decide the legalization question would not bring any new funding to the state until 2016 at the earliest, if approved.
“I think that should be examined on its own, as a bill by the committee and not simply brought forward as an amendment for purposes of financing,” Dion said.
Sen. Anne Haskell, D-Portland, the Senate’s assistant majority leader, said the measure tackles both sides of the problem.
“There’s supply and demand in this. As long as we only go after supply, we will never win this drug war,” Haskell said.
Republicans said they backed the bill because it went a long way toward doing what LePage proposed.
“We recognize first of all that there is a significant need in Maine right now for state intervention regarding a drug problem that is pretty pervasive,” said House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, R-Newport, following the vote Wednesday. “The governor’s approach is one approach to try and do that.”
MDEA Director Roy McKinney said law enforcement was in a pitched battle with drug dealers in Maine.
“Drug dealers have a beachhead in Maine,” McKinney said. “Drug dealers create crime. Simply stated, drug dealing is about making money, and that money comes from robberies, thefts and fraud.”
The bill still faces additional votes in the Senate and the House.
Bangor Daily News State House Reporter Mario Moretto contributed to this report.
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