While the drug problem in Maine dominates headlines, Republicans on the Legislative Council on Thursday rejected a measure to fight addiction where it often begins: in our schools.

“We have to save students from becoming addicts,” Sen. Johnson said. “With all we need to accomplish in the coming session to combat the drug problem in Maine, it’s disappointing that Republican leaders voted against fighting student drug addiction.”

The Legislative Council finally rejected Johnson’s bill — LR 2378, “An Act To Establish a Pilot Program To Prevent Student Drug Addiction” — in a party line vote, with Democrats supporting the measure and Republicans opposing it.

The bill would have created a pilot program in the state’s most vulnerable schools that would have supported the work of school health coordinators with funding from the tobacco settlement fund.

“With all the attention being paid to fighting the supply of drugs, we have to fight the demand side as well. Too often, the demand is first stoked in school-age children. This is a serious problem, and we need to do far better than this vote if the Legislature is going to make a difference,” Sen. Johnson said.