Dispensing prescription drugs to our school children

To the editor:
    Several weeks ago a school in Portland created a national debate when it was found that the school was distributing contraceptives to children without parental consent. It caused outrage among parents and others who believe parents have the absolute right to be involved in the lives of their children at home and in school. The national interest has subsided somewhat but many citizens in the state of Maine, including our Legislature, feel that the issue should be settled once and for all.
    As a result of this controversy, State Sen. Doug Smith of Piscataquis had language drafted to require parental consent but Legislative leadership refused to let it be taken up during the current session. Then, in a parliamentary maneuver, Sen. Smith sponsored Senate Paper 842, a joint order directing the Health and Human Services Committee to report out a bill that would require parental consent before prescription drugs could be dispensed to their children.
    The Senate acted on this order on February 5th and voted to send it down to the House for concurrence. Before that happened, however, Sen. John Martin moved that it be sent directly to the committee. This motion apparently would have caused some problems with the order and the motion was defeated by a vote of 29- 5 (Roll Call 262) with Sen. Martin voting against his own motion. The original motion was then passed 29-5 (Roll Call 263) All five Senators voting against the order were from the Portland area. Senators Roger Sherman and Martin both voted to send Sen. Smith’s order to the Maine House.
    The next action was in the Maine House on February 7th where Rep. Pingree moved to indefinitely postpone the order. That would have effectively killed the legislation for this session. The motion was voted on (Roll Call 209) and passed by a vote of 75-67 thereby killing the legislation for this session.
    I thought the citizens of Aroostook County would be interested in knowing how their Representatives in the Maine House voted on this important issue. Reps. Cleary of Houlton, Edgecomb of Caribou, Jackson of Allagash, Joy of Crystal and Ayotte of Caswell all voted against the motion to kill the bill. Reps. Lundeen of Mars Hill, Fischer of Presque Isle and Sutherland of Chapman all voted to indefinitely postpone the legislation and kill the bill. Rep. Theriault of Madawaska was absent during the vote.
    I believe parental rights are being trampled on by allowing this to go on in our school systems and I can’t imagine anything more important to be taken up during the current session.
Dean Clukey
Houlton