BOSTON — Maine Gov. Paul LePage, a second-term Republican who has become a lightning rod in the debate over drugs and race, did not shy away Monday from his suggestion that black and Hispanic drug dealers from other parts of New England are fueling the opioid epidemic in his home state, expanding his list of exporters to include two Massachusetts border cities – Lowell and Lawrence.
LePage, visiting the Bay State for a conference with other New England governors and Canadian premiers, linked the heroin and fentanyl epidemic in his state to drug dealers crossing the border from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York.
It is a subject of international intrigue and one that, try as they might, politicians in America just cannot seem to avoid.
Perhaps fittingly so, when four New England governors and five eastern Canadian premiers met the press Monday to take questions following a day-long summit largely devoted to renewable energy and international cooperation, the first question was about Donald Trump.
