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Governor Blocks Access to Lifesaving Drug For Heroin Addicts

imyoda

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Governor Blocks Access To Lifesaving Drug For Heroin Addicts | ThinkProgress
Governor Blocks Access to Lifesaving Drug For Heroin Addicts

Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) vetoed a bill Wednesday that could save the lives of hundreds of people struggling with drug abuse in the state. The bill would have allowed pharmacists to dispense naloxone — the drug that once injected, reverses opioid overdoses — to anyone who may be at risk of overdosing, or someone close to them who could administer it in an emergency.

LePage said that making naloxone more accessible would only “perpetuate the cycle of addiction” in Maine, a state at the epicenter of the opioid crisis. Thirty-five states and Washington, D.C. have passed laws allowing prescription-free naloxone, which is known on pharmacy shelves as Narcan — and major pharmacy chains, like Walgreens and CVS, have openly welcomed the move. While Maine already allows people to access naloxone if they have a prescription, these new laws cut out unnecessary time and money spent obtaining a doctor’s note.

“Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose,” LePage wrote in his veto letter, according to the Portland Herald. “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.”

Injecting someone with naloxone who is overdosing from heroin or another opioid can save their life. Members of the state legislature — along with many other critics — say LePage’s veto is a direct disregard to citizens’ lives…………..


This a person without any socially redeeming qualities……………Where did you folks in Maine find this guy?............in the woods?
 
or maybe they should seek council and rehab then they wouldn't have to worry about
the drug.

better yet not take heroin to begin with.
 
LePage is correct. All this does is perpetuate the drug use. It's a way for drug companies to make more money. Drug companies don't want to cure anything. If they did then they'd be out of business. Seriously, when was the last time a drug company actually came out with a cure?

What LePage is trying to do from the sounds of it is to force people into talking to a doctor so that maybe the doctor can convince them to try and kick the drug habit. That will save more lives in the long run than this drug ever will.
 
LePage is correct. All this does is perpetuate the drug use. It's a way for drug companies to make more money. Drug companies don't want to cure anything. If they did then they'd be out of business. Seriously, when was the last time a drug company actually came out with a cure?

What LePage is trying to do from the sounds of it is to force people into talking to a doctor so that maybe the doctor can convince them to try and kick the drug habit. That will save more lives in the long run than this drug ever will.

I have to agree with this. by having to go to the doctor or hospital they can get counseling on their drug issues and can be at least offered
help.

the drug companies are just upset that they just can't get their medication prescribed willy nilly.
the drug is a patch fix to a much larger issue.
 
Governor Blocks Access To Lifesaving Drug For Heroin Addicts | ThinkProgress
Governor Blocks Access to Lifesaving Drug For Heroin Addicts

Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) vetoed a bill Wednesday that could save the lives of hundreds of people struggling with drug abuse in the state. The bill would have allowed pharmacists to dispense naloxone — the drug that once injected, reverses opioid overdoses — to anyone who may be at risk of overdosing, or someone close to them who could administer it in an emergency.

LePage said that making naloxone more accessible would only “perpetuate the cycle of addiction” in Maine, a state at the epicenter of the opioid crisis. Thirty-five states and Washington, D.C. have passed laws allowing prescription-free naloxone, which is known on pharmacy shelves as Narcan — and major pharmacy chains, like Walgreens and CVS, have openly welcomed the move. While Maine already allows people to access naloxone if they have a prescription, these new laws cut out unnecessary time and money spent obtaining a doctor’s note.

“Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose,” LePage wrote in his veto letter, according to the Portland Herald. “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.”

Injecting someone with naloxone who is overdosing from heroin or another opioid can save their life. Members of the state legislature — along with many other critics — say LePage’s veto is a direct disregard to citizens’ lives…………..


This a person without any socially redeeming qualities……………Where did you folks in Maine find this guy?............in the woods?

Why should hard working taxpayers foot the bill for everything ? :roll:
 
Governor Blocks Access To Lifesaving Drug For Heroin Addicts | ThinkProgress
Governor Blocks Access to Lifesaving Drug For Heroin Addicts

Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) vetoed a bill Wednesday that could save the lives of hundreds of people struggling with drug abuse in the state. The bill would have allowed pharmacists to dispense naloxone — the drug that once injected, reverses opioid overdoses — to anyone who may be at risk of overdosing, or someone close to them who could administer it in an emergency.

LePage said that making naloxone more accessible would only “perpetuate the cycle of addiction” in Maine, a state at the epicenter of the opioid crisis. Thirty-five states and Washington, D.C. have passed laws allowing prescription-free naloxone, which is known on pharmacy shelves as Narcan — and major pharmacy chains, like Walgreens and CVS, have openly welcomed the move. While Maine already allows people to access naloxone if they have a prescription, these new laws cut out unnecessary time and money spent obtaining a doctor’s note.

“Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose,” LePage wrote in his veto letter, according to the Portland Herald. “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.”

Injecting someone with naloxone who is overdosing from heroin or another opioid can save their life. Members of the state legislature — along with many other critics — say LePage’s veto is a direct disregard to citizens’ lives…………..


This a person without any socially redeeming qualities……………Where did you folks in Maine find this guy?............in the woods?

LOL

No socially redeeming qualities because he won't provide easier access to a rescue drug for people with no socially redeeming qualities?

Awesome logic.
 
LOL

No socially redeeming qualities because he won't provide easier access to a rescue drug for people with no socially redeeming qualities?

Awesome logic.

these people are hooked and dependent. they need counseling and help in order to get their lives straightened back out.
there have been plenty of drug addicts with the proper help turn their lives around.

others not so much.

however this drug is not a help but a deterrent to that process.
 
Governor Blocks Access To Lifesaving Drug For Heroin Addicts | ThinkProgress
Governor Blocks Access to Lifesaving Drug For Heroin Addicts

Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) vetoed a bill Wednesday that could save the lives of hundreds of people struggling with drug abuse in the state. The bill would have allowed pharmacists to dispense naloxone — the drug that once injected, reverses opioid overdoses — to anyone who may be at risk of overdosing, or someone close to them who could administer it in an emergency.

LePage said that making naloxone more accessible would only “perpetuate the cycle of addiction” in Maine, a state at the epicenter of the opioid crisis. Thirty-five states and Washington, D.C. have passed laws allowing prescription-free naloxone, which is known on pharmacy shelves as Narcan — and major pharmacy chains, like Walgreens and CVS, have openly welcomed the move. While Maine already allows people to access naloxone if they have a prescription, these new laws cut out unnecessary time and money spent obtaining a doctor’s note.

“Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose,” LePage wrote in his veto letter, according to the Portland Herald. “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.”

Injecting someone with naloxone who is overdosing from heroin or another opioid can save their life. Members of the state legislature — along with many other critics — say LePage’s veto is a direct disregard to citizens’ lives…………..


This a person without any socially redeeming qualities……………Where did you folks in Maine find this guy?............in the woods?

......* sigh *......

There you go again. Posting without thinking again.

Ok Ill give you some advice to help you with your compulsion to create a thread everytime you read something negative about the GOP

If the Link in your new thread is from a site like " Think Progress " or " Salon " or from " Media Matters ", you should probably not bother creating a thread
 
these people are hooked and dependent. they need counseling and help in order to get their lives straightened back out.
there have been plenty of drug addicts with the proper help turn their lives around.

others not so much.

however this drug is not a help but a deterrent to that process.

No question.

Just as with alcoholics, enabling an addict accomplishes nothing. This is an undeniable fact. Until a person can admit to their innermost self they have a problem, they will do little to nothing to seek the help they need. As you wrote, Narcan is not a help, but a deterrent to the process of reaching the bottom. Once there, there is a small but real chance addicts can then pursue the process that can reveal socially redeeming qualities they have buried by their addiction.
 
Do they have access to rehab
Is addiction classed as an illness?

What I see here is people blaming an addiction, refusing to provide medical care, and blame the addict for the addiction.

Let them die. Right?
 
Governor Blocks Access To Lifesaving Drug For Heroin Addicts | ThinkProgress
Governor Blocks Access to Lifesaving Drug For Heroin Addicts

Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) vetoed a bill Wednesday that could save the lives of hundreds of people struggling with drug abuse in the state. The bill would have allowed pharmacists to dispense naloxone — the drug that once injected, reverses opioid overdoses — to anyone who may be at risk of overdosing, or someone close to them who could administer it in an emergency.

LePage said that making naloxone more accessible would only “perpetuate the cycle of addiction” in Maine, a state at the epicenter of the opioid crisis. Thirty-five states and Washington, D.C. have passed laws allowing prescription-free naloxone, which is known on pharmacy shelves as Narcan — and major pharmacy chains, like Walgreens and CVS, have openly welcomed the move. While Maine already allows people to access naloxone if they have a prescription, these new laws cut out unnecessary time and money spent obtaining a doctor’s note.

“Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose,” LePage wrote in his veto letter, according to the Portland Herald. “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.”

Injecting someone with naloxone who is overdosing from heroin or another opioid can save their life. Members of the state legislature — along with many other critics — say LePage’s veto is a direct disregard to citizens’ lives…………..


This a person without any socially redeeming qualities……………Where did you folks in Maine find this guy?............in the woods?

Make sure that it's available in EMS vehicles and ERs and that should be it. By making it basically an OTC drug, all you're doing is giving people a way to avoid the consequences of their drug abuse. By limiting it to trained care personnel, you are allowing it to be used as MEDICINE instead of just another tool in the addicts toolbox of addiction. Making naloxone an OTC medicine simply perpetuates the cycle of addiction.
 
Do they have access to rehab
Is addiction classed as an illness?

What I see here is people blaming an addiction, refusing to provide medical care, and blame the addict for the addiction.

Let them die. Right?

No one here has said anything like that. What we're saying is that giving an addict a better way to be an addict is not a good thing.
 
No one here has said anything like that. What we're saying is that giving an addict a better way to be an addict is not a good thing.
Addict OD's, no drug to halt it. He dies, pretty simple.
 
Do they have access to rehab
Is addiction classed as an illness?

What I see here is people blaming an addiction, refusing to provide medical care, and blame the addict for the addiction.

Let them die. Right?
Did you bother to look before you asked?

"Even if you don’t have good comprehensive health insurance though, there are still a number of free or very affordable drug and alcohol treatment options within the state. Maine funds treatment beds at a number of subsidized drug and alcohol rehabs across the state, and even if you are not eligible for Medicaid, you may find that you can access these state funded drug and alcohol rehab programs.

In addition to state funded rehab, there also exist a number of charity or non profit drug and alcohol rehabs, rehabs that will take you in regardless of your ability to pay for services.

Don’t suffer with addiction thinking that you can’t afford drug rehab. You can get help!"
Addiction Treatment Centers, Recovery Help, Drug and Alcohol Rehabs - Choose Help
 
or maybe they should seek council and rehab then they wouldn't have to worry about
the drug.

better yet not take heroin to begin with.

What a novel concept you have there.

Of course you know that is completely unacceptable.

We must, and have a moral and legal obligation, to coddle and care for those that do not give a rat's ass about their own selves.

As soon as the scales are tipped to 60 / 40 the whole house comes tumbling down because those that TAKE outnumber those that PROVIDE.
 
Why should hard working taxpayers foot the bill for everything ? :roll:

You answered your own question with the "hard working" part.

You are hard working, and they do not work at all.

Therefore you MUST pay, pay, pay and pay for those that made a conscience decision to not work at all.

That is how it works. (pardon the pun)
 
Did you bother to look before you asked?

"Even if you don’t have good comprehensive health insurance though, there are still a number of free or very affordable drug and alcohol treatment options within the state. Maine funds treatment beds at a number of subsidized drug and alcohol rehabs across the state, and even if you are not eligible for Medicaid, you may find that you can access these state funded drug and alcohol rehab programs.

In addition to state funded rehab, there also exist a number of charity or non profit drug and alcohol rehabs, rehabs that will take you in regardless of your ability to pay for services.

Don’t suffer with addiction thinking that you can’t afford drug rehab. You can get help!"
Addiction Treatment Centers, Recovery Help, Drug and Alcohol Rehabs - Choose Help

I was and still am of the opinion that the US as in Canada, there are treatment facility shortages, or people that cannot afford to pay for rehab. It was asked in the form of a question.
What are wait time for these facilities?
Insite in Canada is a safe injection area, has cut down on crime, spread of HIV-Hep C, and overdose deaths.
 
Do they have access to rehab
Is addiction classed as an illness?

What I see here is people blaming an addiction, refusing to provide medical care, and blame the addict for the addiction.

Let them die. Right?

YES...The addict IS TO BLAME for the addiction...

Sure they have 100 excuses as to why they are one it, but anyone going through life can give those same excuses and NOT be an addict. My spouse left me, so I am on dope. They took my kids, so I am on dope. I got evicted out of my apartment, so I am on dope. Whereas, if you look a little deeper, you find out they were on dope FIRST, and that is why all the other stuff happened.

I am not for letting anyone die, but almost all addicts just want their drug and have no desire to get off of it. Their drug of choice becomes their new God that gives them a pain free existence for 15 minutes at a time...in the case of crack.

and everything in their entire world must be sacrificed to the crack God to get that 15 minute high.

ADDICTS lost all sympathy with me when in Florida I saw a woman steal her kids presents under the Christmas tree to fund her crack habit. Then said a black man came in and stole them. Her dealer later came back and dropped one each under the tree for them. Even her dealer thought that was pretty despicable.

I never thought any bond was stronger than a mother and her children.

That day, I saw that the bond between an addict and their dope was much, much stronger.

There are no boundaries they will not cross to get their dope.

That makes them sub-human to me.
 
Last edited:
I was and still am of the opinion that the US as in Canada, there are treatment facility shortages, or people that cannot afford to pay for rehab. It was asked in the form of a question.
What are wait time for these facilities?
Insite in Canada is a safe injection area, has cut down on crime, spread of HIV-Hep C, and overdose deaths.
The 'treatment' problem is far more likely to involve those seeking help than those unable to find help. Addicts notoriously are not seeking treatment to stop. "More than 22 million Americans require treatment for addiction, but only 2.5 million seek help."

There are families and support groups DESPERATE to get people into treatment...people that a-will not go, and b-start using right after they get out of rehab, or jail.

If you are looking for treatment options in Maine there are numerous programs to choose from. In addition to the state funded programs and private programs and contract provided programs there are many more outpatient treatment centers as well of privately funded programs. VOA offers free medically assisted detox programs throughout the state. Salvation Army has programs as do several other church affiliated programs. people with comorbid diagnosis (addiction + suicidal ideation) are mandated treatment. And lets not forget...what was the federally mandated solution? The ACA should cover all this...right? God bless mandated forced federal regulated healthcare...right?
 
Make sure that it's available in EMS vehicles and ERs and that should be it. By making it basically an OTC drug, all you're doing is giving people a way to avoid the consequences of their drug abuse. By limiting it to trained care personnel, you are allowing it to be used as MEDICINE instead of just another tool in the addicts toolbox of addiction. Making naloxone an OTC medicine simply perpetuates the cycle of addiction.

I have to agree as to trained medical personel.

Can you imagine shoot up buddies injecting each other with Naloxone? Forgetting they had, and doing it again?
OD on Naloxone?
 
What a novel concept you have there.

Of course you know that is completely unacceptable.

We must, and have a moral and legal obligation, to coddle and care for those that do not give a rat's ass about their own selves.

As soon as the scales are tipped to 60 / 40 the whole house comes tumbling down because those that TAKE outnumber those that PROVIDE.

I know I know using logic and reason again instead of EMO ranting like the hack job of a article that was in the OP.
 
Why should hard working taxpayers foot the bill for everything ? :roll:

Because Christ ask us/you to do same........... Is that good enough .........and more so than the few pennies you have in your pocket........Bye Bye
 
......* sigh *......

There you go again. Posting without thinking again.

Ok Ill give you some advice to help you with your compulsion to create a thread everytime you read something negative about the GOP

If the Link in your new thread is from a site like " Think Progress " or " Salon " or from " Media Matters ", you should probably not bother creating a thread


You just earned a place on my "NO FLY" list.......Congratulations
 
Make sure that it's available in EMS vehicles and ERs and that should be it. By making it basically an OTC drug, all you're doing is giving people a way to avoid the consequences of their drug abuse. By limiting it to trained care personnel, you are allowing it to be used as MEDICINE instead of just another tool in the addicts toolbox of addiction. Making naloxone an OTC medicine simply perpetuates the cycle of addiction.

So are among the "let them die" club............

Drug addition is a sickness and should be treated so................


and is not a moral punishment as you seem to think it should be.......

Is that what your mama taught you..........

shame on you


..........seeya
 
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