Monday, May 20, 2013
Sen. Olympia Snowe has picked up a gaggle of co-sponsors for her amendment seeking to better coordinate the federal, state and local law enforcement response to the bath salts abuse problem, and the Maine Republican is hoping for a vote on the proposal before the week is out.
Snowe’s proposal would be part of a 2012 commerce, justice and state department spending bill expected to be approved later this week, perhaps on Thursday.
Among the co-sponsors: fellow Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. In all, Snowe has eight co-sponsors, her office said Wednesday.
“The severity of the bath salts crisis cannot be overstated,” Snowe said. “A coordinated strategy at all levels of law enforcement is required to provide the training, awareness and resources essential to combating the rampant abuse of bath salts, which to this point has been largely unregulated and nearly impossible to track. We cannot afford to wait any longer while these frightening substances spread rapidly throughout our communities.”
Snowe seeks to require the Department of Justice to come up with a comprehensive strategy for how best work with local law enforcement officials on how to stop the trafficking and use of bath salts, including developing public awareness campaigns, addressing the “rampant abuse and ease of access” to bath salts in rural areas and using the existing federal high intensity drug trafficking initiative to provide more assistance to agencies in areas experiencing high levels of bath salts trafficking.
Snowe’s amendment comes as federal and local law enforcement officials prepare to gather Thursday in Portland for a meeting about the bath salts problem.
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Kevin Miller is Washington bureau chief for the Portland Press Herald and MaineToday Media. He has worked as a journalist in Maine for 6 ½ years, covering the environment, politics and the State House. Before arriving in Maine, he wrote about politics, government and education for newspapers in Virginia and Maryland.
Kevin can be reached at 317-6256 or kmiller@mainetoday.com
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