Evan Popp contributed reporting to this story. Long-fought efforts to reform the state's punitive drug laws had success in the Maine Legislature this session, with two notable reforms advancing and a third that would make possession of certain drugs a civil violation still awaiting approval in the Maine Senate. The Maine House on Thursday voted| Maine Beacon - A project of the Maine People's Alliance
The Maine Senate voted 18-14 Wednesday night to kill a bill that advocates say would have begun to move Maine away from decades of failed, punitive “War on Drugs” policies by decriminalizing possession of scheduled drugs and making it a civil violation. Senate President Troy Jackson of Aroostook County, Sen. Ned Claxton of Androscoggin, a| Maine Beacon - A project of the Maine People's Alliance
Criminalizing the disease of addiction is not the answer, supporters of LD 1975 argued at a Jan. 17 public hearing, and is instead exacerbating the problem and taking resources away from potential public health-based solutions.| Maine Morning Star