Portland’s acting superintendent is disputing Gov. Paul LePage’s contention that a Deering High School student overdosed and was revived with the drug naloxone three times in a week, and went to class after being revived for the third time.

LePage used the story a town hall meeting in Lewiston on Wednesday to explain why he vetoed a bill that made naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, available without a prescription.

“A junior at Deering High School had three Narcan shots in one week. And the third one, he got up and went to class. He didn’t go to the hospital. He didn’t get checked out. He was so used to it he just came out of it and went to class.” LePage said.

The governor said he would have supported the measure if people who receive naloxone were required to go into rehab after they are revived.

But Portland’s acting Superintendent Jeanne Crocker said the governor’s story isn’t true.

“Unequivocally no. This did not happen at Deering High School,” Crocker said Friday. “With respect to the governor saying that this happened at Deering High School, that is incorrect.”

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“Obviously, if a student were ill, we would be calling MedCU (paramedics),” and not administering Narcan, she said. “No doubt about that.”

Deering Principal Ira Waltz told the Maine Public Broadcasting Network that the school doesn’t even have Narcan.

Earlier this week, LePage told a radio station that addicts in Massachusetts were tying themselves to doors that would open and sound an alarm if they passed out.

Then, he said, others would administer naloxone to revive them.

That story was also used to explain why he vetoed the bill.

“Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose,” LePage wrote in his veto letter. “Creating a situation where an addict has a heroin needle in one hand and a shot of naloxone in the other produces a sense of normalcy and security around heroin use that serves only to perpetuate the cycle of addiction.”

The Legislature overrode the veto on April 28.

An email seeking comment from Adrienne Bennett, LePage’s press secretary, was not returned Friday night.


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