Maine Gov. Paul LePage, center, speaks to reporters at a news conference accompanied by Kellyanne Conway, an advisor to President Trump, far left, and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, right, after a meeting to discuss the state’s efforts to fight the opioid epidemic, Wednesday, May 10, 2017, at the State House […]
opiates
Posted inLetters
Alcohol is a bigger problem
Everyone is so caught up by the opiate problem but alcohol is a bigger problem. To compare, 88,000 people died from alcohol in 2014; opiate deaths came to 56,000. Hmmm. The difference is that alcohol is legal and states take in millions of dollars in taxes on the sales. If states made money from heroin […]
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Posted inMaine
Rep. Frances Head sponsors bill to recoup naloxone costs
AUGUSTA — A bill introduced in the Legislature would make people who receive repeat doses of a life-saving opiate overdose antidote pay for it. Gov. Paul LePage’s bill, sponsored by Rep. Frances Head, R-Bethel, would make municipalities, counties and contracted first responders recoup the costs of administering naloxone or other opiate overdose antidotes from those […]
Posted inNation / World
Chris Christie, Donald Trump to launch drug addiction task force
WASHINGTON — After being unceremoniously dropped from President Donald Trump’s transition team, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is dipping his toes into the administration as he takes the lead of a White House commission to combat drug addiction. Christie was at the White House Tuesday, meeting with members of the administration in preparation for the […]
Posted inMaine
Midcoast men seek exemptions from opiate prescription limits
AUGUSTA — Two midcoast men who suffer from chronic pain informed state officials on Tuesday that they intend to sue over a new law that limits opiate prescriptions in an effort to stem Maine’s addiction crisis if it isn’t changed. The threatened lawsuit from lobster wholesaler Brian Rockett of Owls Head and roofer Eric Wass […]
Posted inNew England, sj-web, Uncategorized
Feds arrest 10 men in 3-state opioid bust
BOSTON — Federal authorities say 10 men have been arrested in an interstate opioid trafficking ring in Massachusetts, Maine and Florida. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston said Thursday a three-year investigation led to the arrests. The men face charges including conspiracy to distribute and possess heroin, fentanyl and oxycodone and conspiracy to launder monetary […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web, Uncategorized
Everett, Wash., sues drugmaker for letting OxyContin flood black market
In this Feb. 16, 2017, photo, Robert Williamson, left, leans on a pole in front of his shelter in the woods as he talks with police Sgt. Mike Braley in Everett, Washington. As overdose deaths from opioids and heroin spiked the mayor of Everett took steps to tackle the epidemic devastating this working-class city north […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web, Uncategorized
Paul LePage says Dems blocked his efforts to fight opiate crisis
Gov. Paul LePage tore into Democrats on Tuesday for years of blocking his administration’s efforts to expand treatment options for opioid addicts, accusing them of warming to his proposals only when an election was approaching. The comments came during a wide-ranging and eventful radio interview this morning on WVOM after LePage was challenged by a guest host about how […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
286 overdose deaths so far in 2016; 272 was record in 2015
AUGUSTA — The Maine Attorney General says the number of drug overdose deaths in the state through September already exceeds the total number for 2015. Attorney General Janet Mills says 286 Maine residents died of drug overdoses through the first nine months of this year. The total for 2015 was 272. The 2015 total was […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Corey Coburn: How it all started
AUBURN — It started when Corey Coburn’s car hit a patch of ice on Upland Road in Lisbon. The car wrapped around a tree, caving in the roof, which slit his face from his forehead to his nose, his mother, Heidi-Sue Stuart, said. He managed to climb out the rear window to the side of […]