AUGUSTA, Maine - While Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, and Attorney General Janet Mills, a Democrat, often have sharp and public disagreements, they are in agreement when it comes to addressing Maine's growing problem of methamphetamine abuse.
And both intend to crack down on meth abuse through legislation.
Gov. LePage is calling for seven additional Maine Drug Enforcement agents, four new drug prosecutors in the Attorney General’s office, 22 new assistant district attorneys and four additional district court judges to ensure speedy trials of drug makers and dealers.
LePage says driving his request is the growing problem of drug abuse in Maine, particularly methamphetamine. "We simply don’t have enough bodies to do the enforcement, we can’t keep up," he says. "They predicted 21 meth labs for 2014. We had 28 meth labs and seven 'dumps,' meth dumps, so it is 35. It is January 16, and we have already had two labs this month. It is an epidemic!"
Attorney General Janet Mills agrees. She says the problem of meth labs has been seen throughout the state and is very troubling. "Across the state they have been cropping up, and I don’t think this is just because people have been watching the series 'Breaking Bad.' I hope not," Mills says. "But it is a cheap way to do something in a very dangerous way, to make some to make money making drugs."
Mills says it’s not just more enforcement that is needed; she says a state Supreme Court ruling last year has made it more difficult to prosecute those who set up meth labs. She is introducing legislation to fix that.
"I would like to tighten up that law so that we don’t have to wait until the lab explodes, we don’t have to wait to see what the final end product is if it is obvious that the person has concocted or is ready to concoct methamphetamine," she says.
And both Mills and LePage are in agreement that the state needs to do more in the way of prevention and treatment of those addicted to drugs. "I think we have to do both," LePage says, "but we are doing no enforcement - we simply don’t have enough bodies."
The governor says his current budget proposals should be looked on as a start. He says he will request even more drug agents, prosecutors and judges in his next two-year budget.
Brunswick Democratic state Sen. Stan Gerzofsky has long served on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, and is a past co-chair of the panel from both the Senate and the House. He says the committee needs to look at the problem both in the short and long term.
"What we have to do is think a little more broadly and more into the future, understanding that the chemical composition really matters," Gerzofsky says, "and what we will wind up doing, I am sure, with the MDEA, is find out those key ingredients that they can’t make it without and make those against the law."
Gerzofsky says there are other bills being proposed to address the problem from lawmakers in both parties that have yet to be printed. He says the problem is so dire that he's confident lawmakers will act to tighten the laws, improve enforcement and support more prevention and treatment efforts.
