AUGUSTA — Maine’s Republican governor says people on opiates who get free shots of Narcan have an advantage over people with allergies who have to pay for their own medication.

Gov. Paul LePage said during a Tuesday radio call-in that he got a letter from a dad whose family members have to carry allergy pens for reactions to peanuts and bee stings.

LePage discussed his bill to fine local governments that don’t charge individuals who repeatedly overdose for the cost of administering opioid antidotes.

The governor says people with allergies have “done nothing” but have to pay for it.

He said that in contrast, people on opiates can get free Narcan, which can reverse opioid overdose.

LePage has opposed attempts to increase access to the drug, which he’s said normalizes heroin use.

In this July 8, 2016, file photo, a pharmacist holds a package of EpiPens epinephrine auto-injector, a Mylan product, in Sacramento, California.A kit with naloxone, also known by its brand name Narcan, is displayed at the South Jersey AIDS Alliance in Atlantic City, N.J. on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014. An overdose of opiates essentially makes the body forget to breathe. Naloxone works by blocking the brain receptors that opiates latch onto and helping the body “remember” to take in air.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage, testifies during a House Natural Resources subcommittee oversight hearing on the Antiquities Act on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.

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filed under:
narcan, opioids, Paul LePage, politics, state house
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