AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage says he'll use whatever resources he can find to step up drug interdiction efforts in Maine, including the National Guard.
The comments come a day after writing to legislative leaders asking for additional funds for more drug agents, a request he says doesn't expect to be fulfilled.
LePage says last weekend's spike in drug overdoses in the Portland area, including two deaths, is just one more indication of the growing drug problem in Maine. It's a problem he says he's been trying address since he took office.
"Last week wasn't a revelation to us, I mean we have been talking about this for the last three or four years, asking for more resources," he says, "but now I guess we are going to have to do it without the resources we need and do the best we can with the cooperation of all law enforcement, and if need be I will bring in the Guard."
LePage says he will be holding a summit of state, local and federal law enforcement officials later this month to discuss ways to maximize available resources to address drug trafficking.
He says while he understands that there are limits on what the National Guard can do to help, the drug problem needs action now.
"I am seriously thinking of doing anything and everything legally possible with the current resources we have to attack this drug epidemic," LePage says.
The National Guard is already providing some assistance to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, says agency Director Roy McKinney. He says four guardsmen are assigned to drug task forces as intelligence analysts that provide valuable assistance to his agency.
"Federal law prevents the National Guard from engaging in law enforcement roles, but certainly they are a great asset when in their role as assisting and as we are currently using them is analysts to further our investigations," he says.
McKinney says in the past the Guard has provided more staff to help with investigations, but they have reduced that effort because of federal budget cuts.
He says the Guard has also provided logistical assistance to MDEA and other law enforcement agencies over the years, most notably in the form of helicopters to help with marijuana eradication efforts in rural Maine.
McKinney says drug investigations leading to the arrest the major dealers are lengthy and complex.
"Ones that may take months and months to bring to fruition on identifying and in gathering all of the evidence of the conspirators," he says.
McKinney says he is grateful that lawmakers provided his agency with funding for additional agents, but says it falls well short of the need.
LePage proposed 14 additional agents, but lawmakers approved a combination of state and federal funding to hire 6 new agents. They also added two drug prosecutors as well as two judges and two court clerks to handle the expected increase in arrests.
McKinney says it will take months to hire and train the new agents, and it will likely be a year before they are fully involved in investigating drug gangs that he says are at the root of the state's drug epidemic.
