AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage has proposed a network of new county-run community substance abuse programs, along with creating a dedicated fund to support them.
LePage on Thursday unveiled LD 1674, An Act to Create Community Substance Abuse Programs. The bill calls on sheriffs in Maine’s 16 counties to create community substance abuse programs within county jails.
“This just shows that the governor agrees that there has to be a multi-pronged approach to the drug issue in Maine,” said House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, R-Newport. “It gets to the issue of how do you take people who are headed down the wrong path and change their lives without actually putting them in jail.”
The programs would be administered at the county level but would have to adhere to rules from the Maine Department of Corrections, which would be developed at a later date.
Democratic Rep. Mark Dion of Portland, a former Cumberland County sheriff, said LePage’s bill is similar to LD 1488, which calls on the attorney general’s office to launch eight pilot programs throughout Maine to help addicts receive treatment, housing, health care, job training and mental health services. Dion’s bill has a $2 million fiscal note; there is no fiscal note for LePage’s bill.
Dion said the bills are so similar that if LePage were in the House, he would have by rule had to sign on to Dion’s bill.
Dion said he appreciates that LePage is advocating for treatment services but took issue with the governor’s proposal that those services would be available only after a conviction.
“In my bill, the diversion has to happen early in the process to save costs,” said Dion. “To get all the way through the process to a sentence you’re expending a lot of resources.”
LePage’s bill also includes directives for the court system. It would require that courts impose a prison sentence in drug cases but suspend all jail time for offenders with no prior drug or violent crime convictions. Offenders would be given probation with conditions they complete a 12-month substance abuse program and submit to electronic monitoring and daily testing for illegal drug and alcohol use.
These mandatory sentencing requirements have been controversial in the past and could be a stumbling block this year, said Sen. Anne Haskell, D-Portland, a member of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.
“I’m a little less excited about the mandatory sentencing requirements,” said Haskell. “I believe that’s what we hire judges for, to make decisions about sentencing.”
Some had concerns that it would be difficult for sheriffs departments to administer the electronic monitoring and testing programs.
“That does require a certain amount of staff time,” said Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry, president of the Maine Sheriffs’ Association. “We’d be hard-pressed to do that on a larger scale.”
The bill proposes the establishment of the Community Substance Abuse Fund to reimburse counties for setup and operational expenses but does not detail how that fund would be supported.
Sen. David Burns, R-Whiting, a retired police officer, said the key for him will be the ability of sheriffs and the Department of Corrections to prove that the programs are working.
“The issue that the governor has had and that I have certainly had is that a lot of the programs we already have aren’t effective,” said Burns, who is a member of the Legislature’s Criminal Justice Committee. “Anything that we can do proactively to take care of the substance abuse problem that we have is going to cost money. … I think the sheriffs are probably in the best position to do this if anybody’s going to do it.”
LePage spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett said LePage modeled his bill after one that’s underway in Dade County, Florida.
“We must have a willingness to develop meaningful social policies,” said Bennett. “Tackling the drug problem is going to take a multi-pronged approach in a balanced manner which addresses areas of education, law enforcement and treatment.”
Haskell said Dion and LePage’s bills demonstrate — just by their very existence — that progress has been made in the fight against drugs in Maine.
“So much of the movement that has happened has been because of the focus of law enforcement on treatment. That’s something we haven’t seen in the past,” said Haskell. “This is truly a sea change in policy: to see law enforcement being out front on providing treatment and resources for people who have come in contact with drugs.”
