Cautious_Optimist
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/us/maine-state-of-the-state-addicted-babies.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=0
Maine Governor Cites ‘Troubling Epidemic’ of Addicted Babies
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYEFEB. 5, 2014
With the country’s attention focused on overdoses and deaths because of heroin, Gov. Paul R. LePage of Maine on Tuesday turned the spotlight on babies that have been born in his state to drug-addicted mothers.
Mr. LePage said that 927 “drug-addicted babies” were born in Maine in 2013, more than 7 percent of all births. Speaking to the Legislature during his State of the State address, the governor called the births a “troubling epidemic” that was “tearing at the social fabric of our communities.”
“Each baby addicted to drugs creates a lifelong challenge for our health care system, schools and social services,” he said. The average cost for drug-addicted births in 2009, the latest year for which figures were available, was $53,000. “It is unacceptable to me that a baby should be born affected by drugs,” he said.
Mr. LePage’s stern warning on drugs followed a much-noted State of the State message delivered last month by his fellow New England governor, Peter Shumlin of Vermont.
Mr. Shumlin described the problem in Vermont as “a full-blown heroin crisis.” It drew considerable media attention to the problem in the state, attention that was magnified over the weekend by the death of the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, 46, who the police say appeared to have overdosed on heroin.
But there were crucial differences in the messages from the two governors.
Mr. Shumlin, a Democrat, who devoted his entire address to the subject of opiate addiction, called on Vermont to view it as a disease to be treated, not just as a law enforcement problem to be solved by putting people in jail.
Mr. LePage, a Republican with Tea Party backing, devoted most of his speech to what he described as the scourge of welfare, but he allotted several minutes at the end to drug addiction. Mr. LePage cast the drug problem in terms of law enforcement and economics.
“While some are spending all their time trying to expand welfare, we are losing the war on drugs,” Mr. LePage told the State Legislature, putting his emphasis on expanding the law enforcement and judicial response, without mentioning a role for treatment.
He called on lawmakers to expand Maine’s judicial branch by adding four special drug prosecutors and four judges to sit in enhanced courts in Bangor, Lewiston, Portland and Presque Isle. He also called for adding 14 agents to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
“We must hunt down dealers and get them off the streets,” Mr. LePage said.
“We must protect our citizens from drug-related crimes and violence,” he said. “We must save our babies from lifelong suffering.”
Both Mr. LePage and Mr. Shumlin are seeking re-election this year, and are taking tacks on heroin addiction they believe will most appeal to their respective constituencies.
Maine Governor Cites ‘Troubling Epidemic’ of Addicted Babies
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYEFEB. 5, 2014
With the country’s attention focused on overdoses and deaths because of heroin, Gov. Paul R. LePage of Maine on Tuesday turned the spotlight on babies that have been born in his state to drug-addicted mothers.
Mr. LePage said that 927 “drug-addicted babies” were born in Maine in 2013, more than 7 percent of all births. Speaking to the Legislature during his State of the State address, the governor called the births a “troubling epidemic” that was “tearing at the social fabric of our communities.”
“Each baby addicted to drugs creates a lifelong challenge for our health care system, schools and social services,” he said. The average cost for drug-addicted births in 2009, the latest year for which figures were available, was $53,000. “It is unacceptable to me that a baby should be born affected by drugs,” he said.
Mr. LePage’s stern warning on drugs followed a much-noted State of the State message delivered last month by his fellow New England governor, Peter Shumlin of Vermont.
Mr. Shumlin described the problem in Vermont as “a full-blown heroin crisis.” It drew considerable media attention to the problem in the state, attention that was magnified over the weekend by the death of the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, 46, who the police say appeared to have overdosed on heroin.
But there were crucial differences in the messages from the two governors.
Mr. Shumlin, a Democrat, who devoted his entire address to the subject of opiate addiction, called on Vermont to view it as a disease to be treated, not just as a law enforcement problem to be solved by putting people in jail.
Mr. LePage, a Republican with Tea Party backing, devoted most of his speech to what he described as the scourge of welfare, but he allotted several minutes at the end to drug addiction. Mr. LePage cast the drug problem in terms of law enforcement and economics.
“While some are spending all their time trying to expand welfare, we are losing the war on drugs,” Mr. LePage told the State Legislature, putting his emphasis on expanding the law enforcement and judicial response, without mentioning a role for treatment.
He called on lawmakers to expand Maine’s judicial branch by adding four special drug prosecutors and four judges to sit in enhanced courts in Bangor, Lewiston, Portland and Presque Isle. He also called for adding 14 agents to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
“We must hunt down dealers and get them off the streets,” Mr. LePage said.
“We must protect our citizens from drug-related crimes and violence,” he said. “We must save our babies from lifelong suffering.”
Both Mr. LePage and Mr. Shumlin are seeking re-election this year, and are taking tacks on heroin addiction they believe will most appeal to their respective constituencies.
