Maine's Governor Vetoes A Lifesaving Bill; tells heroin addicts to drop dead

[jimmy olsen]

Most vile action done by a governor since I don't know how long, probably have to go back to the Jim Crow South.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobsullum/2016/04/22/better-dead-than-addicted-says-maines-governor-while-vetoing-a-lifesaving-bill/#770dcd7d4130

APR 22, 2016 @ 05:16 AM
Better Dead Than Addicted? Maine's Governor Vetoes A Lifesaving Bill

Jacob Sullum
I cover the war on drugs from a conscientious objector's perspective.

This week Maine Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a bill that would have allowed pharmacists to dispense the opioid antagonist naloxone (a.k.a. Narcan), which reverses heroin overdoses that might otherwise be fatal, without a prescription. The Maine legislature unanimously approved the bill, which copies the policy of about 30 other states, because making naloxone more easily available is a commonsense harm reduction measure that can save the lives of heroin users who are not ready to stop using the drug. As far as LePage is concerned, that is precisely the problem:

Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose. Creating a situation where an addict has a heroin needle in one hand and a shot of naloxone in the other produces a sense of normalcy and security around heroin use that serves only to perpetuate the cycle of addiction.

In other words, if the aim is discouraging heroin use, making the habit less deadly is counterproductive. More generally, prohibitionists want drugs to be as dangerous as possible, the better to deter consumption. Although LePage states that appalling argument more explicitly than most drug warriors do, it is fundamental to the way prohibition works.

There is nothing inherently deadly about heroin. People can consume it regularly for years without suffering any serious bodily damage, provided they follow sanitary injection practices, take appropriate doses, and do not mix it with other depressants. Prohibition makes heroin needlessly dangerous by encouraging injection (the most efficient method to consume an artificially expensive drug), making clean needles hard to come by and risky to possess (by treating them as illegal drug paraphernalia), creating a black market in which purity and potency are unpredictable, and discouraging honest advice about how to minimize the drug's hazards.

Although such harm-amplifying effects are usually described as unintended consequences of prohibition, LePage's attitude toward naloxone shows that from his perspective they are desirable. The same impulse underlies opposition to needle exchange programs, supervised injection rooms, and prescriptions of pharmaceutical-quality heroin to addicts. Like readily available naloxone, these measures make addicts less likely to die, possibly at the cost of making them less likely to quit. LePage considers that risk unacceptable. Better dead than addicted.

[Admiral Yi]

You know this headline is superretarded, right?

[jimmy olsen]

You know this headline is superretarded, right?

It's 100% true.

[11B4V]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6RbNhmmpRo

[Phillip V]

LePage seems Trumpian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_LePage

Regardless, he has an interesting biography.

[jimmy olsen]

LePage seems Trumpian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_LePage

Regardless, he has an interesting biography.

I believe he was the 2nd governor to endorse Trump

[Barrister]

I dunno about Maine.  Perhaps it's different than Alberta.

But here we have this huge problem with fentanyl.  It's gets sold as heroin, or is perhaps mixed with heroin.  But instead it contains fentanyl, which is massively more addictive, and fatal.  So it just plain kills.

And that's not to mention W-18, which is just hitting the streets.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/street-drug-w18-delay-1.3550642

100X powerful as fentanyl.  Dear Lord.

[Jaron]

Once Bernie is elected, you'll be able to buy any drug and its antidote in the pharmacy without a prescription.

[Eddie Teach]

So now Bernie is a radical libertarian?

[grumbler]

In Bernie's America, you won't "buy" anything.  You will receive your allotment of drugs and  antidotes, and be grateful for it.

[The Larch]

LePage seems Trumpian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_LePage

Regardless, he has an interesting biography.

I thought Maine was one of the true blue states, how come do they elect this retrograde?

This bit was...funny. 

LePage has two children, Paul and Lauren, with his second wife, Ann DeRosby, whom he married in 1984. Since 2002, his household has also included a young man from Jamaica, Devon Raymond, Jr. (born 1985). LePage calls Raymond his adopted son, although adoption paperwork was not filed. LePage met Raymond in Jamaica through Raymond's father, who caddied for LePage during a vacation there.

[jimmy olsen]

LePage seems Trumpian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_LePage

Regardless, he has an interesting biography.

I thought Maine was one of the true blue states, how come do they elect this retrograde?

This bit was...funny. 

LePage has two children, Paul and Lauren, with his second wife, Ann DeRosby, whom he married in 1984. Since 2002, his household has also included a young man from Jamaica, Devon Raymond, Jr. (born 1985). LePage calls Raymond his adopted son, although adoption paperwork was not filed. LePage met Raymond in Jamaica through Raymond's father, who caddied for LePage during a vacation there.

IIRC the vote was split between a democrat and a centerist or leftist independent.

[viper37]

Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose. Creating a situation where an addict has a heroin needle in one hand and a shot of naloxone in the other produces a sense of normalcy and security around heroin use that serves only to perpetuate the cycle of addiction.

I don't see the problem.  You make a conscious choice of using a dangerous product, and you do so because you know you can be easily revived.  Making it freely accessible would not only enhance drug users experience but convince others to try it who would not normally do it.

[grumbler]

I don't see the problem.  You make a conscious choice of using a dangerous product, and you do so because you know you can be easily revived.  Making it freely accessible would not only enhance drug users experience but convince others to try it who would not normally do it.

Don't post drunk, is my advice.

Sober up and try again, in English next time.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I don't see the problem.  You make a conscious choice of using a dangerous product, and you do so because you know you can be easily revived.  Making it freely accessible would not only enhance drug users experience but convince others to try it who would not normally do it.

Don't post drunk, is my advice.

Sober up and try again, in English next time.

Drunk posting can enhance the experience for other posters though.