This week, Gov. Paul LePage touted a bill that seeks to penalize municipalities that don’t seek reimbursement from individuals repeatedly revived by naloxone hydrochloride. Also known as Narcan, it’s a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Municipalities that fail to comply would get slapped with a $1,000 fine.

Speaking on WVOM, LePage compared Narcan the lifesaving drug to EpiPens, saying that it is unfair that people who overdose get Narcan for free while people with deadly allergies sometimes pay hundreds for the epinephrine delivery system. “These people have done absolutely nothing — this is a medical condition — but they got to pay for it. But Narcan, you can be on opiates and Narcan you get free shots,” said the governor.

This is not the first time LePage has tried to limit the use of Narcan. His opposition to the drug, according to the Associated Press, is based in his belief that it normalizes heroin use.

In contrast to LePage’s point of view, in his visit to Maine this week, Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price said that it was imperative to make opioid reversal medication available, according to the AP.

That we are in the grip of an opioid crisis — one that took the lives of 378 in Maine in 2016 — is not in dispute.

Too often, though, LePage’s response to Maine’s drug epidemic is punitive, reactive and with little regard to prevention. And while we believe that there should be legal consequences to drug abuse, fighting the opioid epidemic in Maine also requires compassion and logic.

It makes sense to use the tools available, whether it’s Narcan to treat an overdose or suboxone to treat addiction.

“When Narcan is used, it’s a window of opportunity to put someone in treatment,” says Tom Kivler, a clinician and senior director for behavioral health at Mid Coast-Parkview Health in Brunswick. “And we know that treatment works.”

To be clear, Mid Coast- Parkview has not taken a position on LePage’s bill. However, the hospital has administered Narcan, says Kivler, “and it has saved lives. … We believe that Narcan should be available.”

“The science of the last 20 years shows addiction to be a chronic brain disease,” Kivler says. Addiction ought to be treated as such. Or, as Kivler states: “You wouldn’t withhold treatment for a diabetic. My point is, this should be the same as an EpiPen. People are dying and we — as a society — need to make sure the resources are out there so people can be saved.”

We don’t know whether LePage recognizes addiction as a disease, but we do recognize LePage’s lack of compassion. It’s that lack of compassion fueling his fight against the use of Narcan that may place lives at risk.