Gov. LePage opposes a proposed state law to expand access to Narcan for overdoses.

He has said that this might encourage drug addiction and communicate the message: ” ‘Be a drug addict and we will allow you – we will have everybody on the street have a little pin so that if you croak we will inject you.’ ”

This is a crass and uneducated response. Picture an 18-year-old who left home because of abuse. He lives with “friends,” takes heroin and turns blue.

If given Narcan on time, he lives. If not, he dies. The heroin now on the street is often laced with fentanyl, and our death rate is higher than ever before.

When will the governor realize that such people are already suffering from an addiction, which is an illness? We can save many of them from death. What if it were his son?

Let’s move on and develop expanded treatment programs, as well as social supports for those who have addiction and/or mental health disorders.

Rebecca Chagrasulis, M.D.

Otisfield