04/07/17 Janet Mills, Maine Attorney General

(Photo: President Laura Young, Attorney General Janet Mills, and Bob Martin.)

After a wonderful introduction by Bob Martin – who also explained the common law origin of Attorney General from its roots in England, Attorney General Janet Mills began her discussion by emphasizing her own Rotary heritage. AG Mills was a former Rotarian in Farmington, having inherited the Rotary bug from both her father and grandfather. She even cited the Four-Way Test and lamented that many thorny issues could be more easily be tackled if most public officials believed in the Four-Way Test.

AG Mills stated that her office is the largest law firm in the state and is currently handling over 2,000 child protection matters. She discussed the problem of drug abuse on our population – including children – and noted that the infant mortality rate in Maine is actually increasing.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office also contains the Consumer Protection Division where 28 volunteer consumer complaint mediators work on referred cases dealing with automobile complaints, landlord/tenant matters, fraud and other issues. AG Mills stated with pride that $704,000 was collected by her office as restitution for consumers through lawsuits against some well known companies.

(Photo: Michel Kanyambo and Attorney General Janet Mills.)

AG Mills spent much of her talk focusing on the drug epidemic here in Maine. She praised the Portland Press Herald’s recent 10-part series on drug addiction. She informed us that last year’s drug overdose death toll was 376 – a 40% increase of overdose deaths from the previous year. Many of these deaths were related to opioids (prescription narcotics) – such as oxcycodone, fentanyl, hydrocodone and many others. 

Proposed solutions include: mental health assistance for teenagers, expanding our health insurance to better cover drug addiction, prescription take-back programs, more public education, including public service announcements and greater drug education in schools. For dealing with prescription painkiller abuse, AG Mills is in favor of limiting how long opioids can be prescribed -- depending on the type of pain.

AG Mills supports making Narcan – a drug that reverses the effect of opioid overdose, more available. She was critical of Gov. Paul LePage’s comments about Narcan that suggest people get what they deserve. She stated that as Maine’s top law enforcement official, she allocated state resources to make Narcan more available to police departments resulting in the saving of 108 lives. 

This is a problem that affects everyone in one way or another. If you haven’t been directly impacted, you probably know of a friend, co-worker or other acquaintance that has suffered. The trend is getting worse with no signs of slowing down. We must all do our part to be more informed about this scourge here in Maine and across the nation.

For more facts about opioid addiction, she also suggested the website: DoseofRealtyMaine.org.