The Republican candidate in Maine’s competitive gubernatorial races is slamming his Democratic opponent for supporting the distribution of free crack pipes to addicts. The gubernatorial candidate argues that the state’s so-called harm reduction facilities are fueling crime.
The attack started during former governor Paul LePage’s campaign speech Wednesday, in which the former Republican governor criticized his successor, Janet Mills (D.). Mills promotes Maine Access Points, a taxpayer-funded harm reduction group that in July. The same facility that provided a dozen free crack pipes to a Washington Free Beacon reporter.
Democratic candidate Mills’s drug policies, LePage claims, have contributed to a violent crime spike. The spike in violent crime has seen shootings in Portland more than double since last year.
“Think about it: When you hand out free crack pipes, there is something that goes into it,” said LePage. “That something is illegal, dangerous, and it fuels—let me repeat—it fuels out-of-control crime. Janet Mills is literally fueling Maine’s crime epidemic.”
Mills has supported the harm reduction initiatives and launched a program in 2020, Overdose Prevention Through Intensive Outreach, Naloxone, and Safety, that directs drug users to Maine Access Points to “get the supplies you need to use safely.”
LePage noted that Maine Access Points only received $14,915 in government grants in 2018, the last year of his two-term run as governor. Yet funds jumped to $716,073 in 2019 after Mills took office.
Mills’s support for harm reduction initiatives has come amid a surge in crime in Maine. Police in Portland, the state’s largest city, said they responded to 42 shootings this year as of Sept. 9. This is more than double last year’s total. Portland had five shootings in one week just this month.
The harm reduction approach to drug policy aims to make drug abuse safer for addicts rather than eliminate it. Support for such policies could pose a campaign liability for Democrats who have embraced the Biden administration’s controversial drug agenda.
The Biden administration is facing backlash, as more media sites report on the harm caused by these policies. The administration has denied previous Free Beacon reports on how it was set to fund the distribution of crack pipes through the $30 million program.
The Church of Safe Injection is one of the harm reduction groups set to receive federal funds and was certified as a part of Maine’s syringe service program last year. This is after years of distributing drug paraphernalia illegally.
