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Paul LePage

GOVERNOR

November 20, 2015

Honorable Michael D. Thibodeau Honorable Mark W. Eves
President of the Senate Speaker of the House

2 State House Station 2 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333 Augusta, ME 04333

Dear Senate President Thibodeau and Speaker Eves:

I have received your responses to my letter of November 10. Cutting through the rhetoric, it
looks like you are both on board with the need for more MDEA agents to address the raging
heroin pandemic in our state. It is killing Mainers every week and this escalating public health
emergency requires immediate action.

We stand ready to work with you on a plan to expand upon existing efforts to prevent and treat
addiction. However, we cannot stand by and watch Mainer after Mainer die from the ?ow of
heroin and other lethal Opiates.

We are not looking to arrest drug addicts. We need more law enforcement of?cials on the streets
hunting down organized drug dealers and stopping them from selling poison in our state. We
have to take decisive action to shut them down wherever we can.

As the drug crisis rapidly accelerates, we are falling behind in resources to stop the supply. Any
delay in hiring MDEA agents only exacerbates the problem. It takes months to hire and train new
drug agents. Had the 14 agents been funded a year?and-a?half ago, they would be on the streets
right now. We need to build a pipeline for hiring and training new agents so as some are hitting
the streets, more are coming in for training.

You can determine the timeline for funding the new agents. ljust need to know you are serious
about funding these positions out of the gate when you return in January 2016. If we can work
together to address treatment and prevention needs in that timeframe and agree on a
comprehensive piece of legislation, great. But in the meantime, I am asking you once again to
commit to funding 10 new drug agents even in a stand-alone bill, ifnecessary.

I ask that you inform me by December 10 whether the Legislature is planning to fund these new
agents. If you do not commit by then, I will take action to keep our state safe and prevent more
Mainers from dying.


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PHONE: [307! 387-353l {Voice} USERS CALL Tl! FAX: 120.?" 25??1034



I will use every resource available to the Executive Branch to ?ght drug traf?ckers, including
temporary support from the National Guard. Every life is worth saving, and we will do whatever
is necessary to prevent the death of even one more Mainer.

Sincerely,

Paul R. LePage
Governor