UPDATE: The Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety will hold a public hearing on the bill, LD 1811, on Monday, March 17.
AUGUSTA – The ACLU of Maine today called on Gov. LePage to change his approach to combatting rising drug abuse in Maine and to prioritize diversion and treatment programs over more arrests. The governor’s office will hold a press conference this morning to announce a bill that would increase spending on the failed war on drugs, providing for 22 new law enforcement and judicial positions.
In Maine, drug arrests have gone up nearly 240 percent since the mid-1980s. Yet despite the increase in enforcement, abuse has skyrocketed. According to information released by the attorney general, there were 163 drug-related deaths in Maine in 2012 – more deaths than were caused by car accidents.
The following can be attributed to Grainne Dunne, justice organizer at the ACLU of Maine:
“Governor LePage himself has said that the war on drugs is a failure, yet he is proposing a continuation of those same failed policies that have wreaked havoc on our communities and our state budgets. The war on drugs is one of the most costly, most wasteful, and least effective government programs ever devised. Lawmakers across the country are taking a smarter approach to the rise in drug abuse, and Maine should do the same.”
