PORTLAND, Maine - Gov. Paul LePage has vetoed a bill designed to make the overdose reversal drug naloxone available without a prescription.
The legislation is designed to allow family members or friends to counteract an opiate overdose more quickly than emergency responders, in what is seen as a life or death situation.
In his veto message the governor says that naloxone, also known as Narcan, does not truly save lives, it merely extends them until the next overdose.
Democratic state Sen. Cathy Breen, the bill's lead Senate co-sponsor, says that's just not correct.
"In fact, it's most likely for people to overdose when they're in recovery because they use a lot of opioids when they're actively using and their body builds up a tolerance to it," Breen says, "and when they are in recovery, their body loses that tolerance."
And, Breen says, if they relapse and use their previous amount, an overdose becomes much more likely.
Breen says she hopes the Legislature will override the veto.