LEWISTON, Maine – The same day Republican Gov. Paul LePage reiterated his intent to use National Guard troops to fight Maine’s growing heroin problem, the state’s U.S. senators on Tuesday asked the federal government to increase access to treatment programs for painkiller addicts.
Those addicted to prescription painkillers often use heroin as a substitute when they can no longer get a prescription filled or afford to buy black market painkillers on the street.
On Tuesday morning, LePage said on WVOM-FM in Bangor that he has the authority to use the National Guard if the Legislature refuses to provide the resources he’s sought to combat Maine’s growing drug problem.
His remark was an apparent dig at lawmakers who rejected his requests to hire the number of additional agents he wanted at the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
But later Tuesday, Maine’s U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent, released a statement along with a group of their Senate colleagues announcing a letter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell.
The letter, according to a release from King and Collins, urges Burwell to increase access to treatment for prescription painkiller addiction.
“Although effective medications to treat opioid use disorders exist today, federal regulations continue to limit access to some life-saving treatments,” the release stated. “Chief among these effective treatments is medication-assisted therapy. Alarmingly, only 10 percent of the 23 million Americans with addiction and substance use disorders receive any care in a given year.”
King and Collins said, “Numerous studies have shown that MAT is cost effective, reduces drug use, disease rates, overdose risk and criminal activity among opioid addicted person. … Despite the effectiveness of MAT as one of the tools available to treat opioid addiction, there is significant under-treatment with this proven therapy.”
According to their letter, raising the “prescriber caps” for “highly effective MAT medications” would enable “physicians to treat more patients … and improve and increase access to quality and comprehensive opioid treatment programs.”
Collins and King said that they view this action as “an important part of larger collaborative efforts between the Congress and the administration to address substance abuse disorders.”