Outrage at progressive Maine lawmakers' bid to decriminalize all drugs

The quaint Maine fishing villages that inspired Jessica Fletcher’s beloved Cabot Cove could become dystopian, crime-ridden hellholes like San Francisco or Portland if progressive Maine lawmakers get their way. Members of the state legislature on Wednesday spent four hours debating whether to decriminalize all drugs in the Pine Tree State.

Under the scheme proposed by Democrat representative Lydia Crafts (pictured) even possessing [Class A drugs] would not be considered a criminal offense. Money spent on enforcing drugs laws would instead be directed to healthcare as part of a so-called ‘harm reduction’ strategy.

San Francisco, which thanks to its progressive political leaders largely does not prosecute public drug use, has seen a similar surge in abuse. San Francisco recorded 806 accidental drug overdose deaths last year, the highest level the city has ever seen.

Crafts’s scheme seems could jeopardize Maine’s famous seaside villages – including the fictional Cabot Cove – a cozy fishing town where Angela Lansbury’s (pictured) iconic teacher-turned crime novelist Jessica Fletcher solved a slew of murders.

The 80s and 90s classic was filmed mostly in Montecito, California, and the harbor used in the series was a set that’s part of the Universal Studios theme park. But the mega hit series cozy atmosphere was so popular with viewers that many visit the real Maine to soak up the Cabot Cove vibe – with the possibility of encountering open drug use likely to derail such plans. And residents of those villages are unlikely to welcome the program which Oregon pioneered.

Even top Democratic lawmakers who backed Oregon’s law say they’re now open to revisiting it. Oregon had the highest increase in synthetic opioid overdose fatalities when comparing 2019 and the year to June 30 – a 13-fold surge. The figure rose from 84 deaths in 2019 to more than 1,100. Among the next highest was neighboring Washington state, which saw its estimated synthetic opioid overdose deaths increase seven-fold when comparing those same time periods, CDC data shows.

Maine’s lawmakers, however, did not appear discouraged. The scale of their state’s drug crisis is dwarfed by San Francisco’s: while the Californian city had 806 fatalities in 2023, the entire state of Maine, in the year to November, had 559. And some of Maine’s political leaders said the time was right to experiment. ‘This bill aims to create a state-wide public health-based response to substance use in Maine,’ said Crafts in her testimony on Wednesday introducing the bill, according to The Maine Wire. ‘Our public health approach to LD 1975 aims at helping people rebuild their lives through medical intervention, increased connection and social support. Incarceration impedes this goal.’

Lucas John Lanigan, a Republican representing Sanford, whose son battled a [Class A] addiction, said that he supported a rethinking of the current policies. ‘We can either continue to bury our heads in the sand or invest in the future of so many tormented with addiction and mental health problems,’ he testified. ‘We can invest now, or we will pay later. It really is simple.’

Meagan Sway of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Maine agreed that putting people in prison for drug offenses was not the right move. ‘Instead of responding to drug use with punishment, which does not work, LD 1975 would begin to transition our drug policy away from incarceration and punishment and toward a public-health informed framework – a model that is centered on seeing the whole person and one that offers care, compassion, and grace,’ she said.

But Reagan Paul, a Republican representing Winterport, said he supported ‘investments in education and prevention, access to treatment, support of recovery services, and enforcement’ – but not decriminalization. ‘We must build a system that has help in place for those willing to accept it and work towards recovery, but we shouldn’t enable people to continue dangerous behaviors that are harmful to them and all of society,’ he said.

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