Members of the Maine Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force created by executive order of Gov. Paul LePage will report every six months to the governor, the attorney general, the commissioner of public safety, the commissioner of environmental protection and the Legislature.
Members named Monday are:
Chairman:
Joe Bruno, president and CEO of Community Pharmacies LP.
Disposal:
Dr. Stevan Gressit, founding director, International Institute for Pharmaceutical Safety; William Savage, assistant attorney general; Greg Couture, assistant to the commissioner, Maine Department of Public Safety; and Pattie Aho, commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
Diversion alert:
Darrell Crandell, commander, Maine Drug Enforcement Agency; Natalie Morse, prevention center director, Maine General Medical Center; state Rep. Susan Morissette; and Dr. Denise Theriault, Southern Maine Periodontal Associates.
Education:
Lauri Sidelko, director, alcohol and drug education programs, University of Maine; Jayne Harper, drug overdose prevention educator, MaineGeneral Prevention Center; Gordon Smith, executive vice president, Maine Medical Association; Melissia Petro, regional director, state government and legislative affairs, Purdue Pharma; and Neill Miner, project director, Southern Kennebec Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention.
Prescription monitoring program:
Roy McKinney, director, Maine Drug Enforcement Agency; Brenda Kielty, special assistant to the attorney general; and Patricia Lapera, project coordinator, prescription monitoring program, Office of Substance Abuse.
Purdue Pharma appointed as “Education” — what is the governor thinking? They are the same company who lied about the addictive and abusive qualities of their drug, OxyContin. You have an epidemic of OxyContin death and addiction in your state because of these convicted felons. Shame on you Governor Le Page. Marianne Skolek
Open for business, blink, blink, wink, wink!
Sounds like, “The fox is guarding the chicken coop”.
Cheers Pharma!!
I have a great Idea. Let’s have the fox guard the hen house.
Perhaps having some citizens with common sense and no affiliation with the pharmaceutical companies would be a better idea for a task force. Joe Bruno is one who received many extra dollars without question for one of his companies when he was in office, isn’t he? If I remember correctly, his backbone is very weak, also.
The drug war is a total fraud. Are these people going to admit it? Not likely. They have vested interest and gain financially from the war. It is insane.
Let’s see now. I think I’ll name my son, my other daughter, my wife, my nephew, by best friend, my dog…
another task force that will not work… just suck up money…. how bout that Patti Aho head of dep there is raw sewage running out my neighbors driveway for two years now and nobody can seem to get it stopped but she has time to be involved in other things time for other work on drug abuse how about my enviroment
another task force Pattie Aho head of DEP i have raw sewage running down the road from my neighbors house 2 years now how can she possibly do anything else these people can not do the jobs they have but lapage will keep throwing tax payers money at useless task forces
…
Wonder if it would be possible for doctors start requiring patients to return any meds they have stopped taking, just so people don’t have pill bottles around that can be stolen by visitors or children.
Who did Baldacci enlist?
I’m sure these people will do well leading our state through the drug abuse…………..and keep it going as long as they make money from it. What a joke….Leplaque