Peter Reuter says there is no proof the administration's steps caused the overdose decline
Peter ReuterProfessor of public policy and criminology at the University of Maryland, in an email interview with PolitiFact
Reuter said the cited administration actions had not been shown to cause the overdose decline.
Responding to
Maine’s decrease in overdose deaths in 2025 and 2026 occurred because the Trump administration sealed the border.
“there is no proof”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Did border policy cause Maine’s overdose deaths to fall?
Vice President JD Vance said Maine’s decline in overdose deaths followed the Trump administration’s sealing of the border. State data confirm a decline in 2025, but the trend began before the administration took office. Drug-policy and public-health researchers cited multiple potential contributors and said the available evidence does not establish border policy as the cause.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Reports named interviews with University of Maine, Carnegie Mellon, University of Maryland, Georgetown, and Brown drug-policy and public-health researchers, plus a response from the vice president’s office.
Before the quotation
Vance attributed Maine’s overdose decline to the Trump administration having sealed the border.
After the quotation
The response addresses the causal attribution and does not dispute that Maine’s overdose deaths declined.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The statement directly challenges the evidentiary basis for the causal claim.
- Recorded on
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- People and groups discussed
- JD Vance
More from this case
Read the full caseRegina LaBelle says the specific policies behind falling overdose deaths are hard to pin down
“It is very difficult to parse out with certainty the specific policies that caused overdose deaths to come down.”Read statement
Jonathan P. Caulkins says the border was not literally sealed to fentanyl
“We did not literally seal the borders (to fentanyl)” “Obviously some is still getting in; otherwise deaths would be zero.”Read statement
Marcella Sorg says the evidence points to multiple factors, not the border alone, behind Maine's overdose decline
“The evidence supports multiple factors for this reduction in overdose deaths, especially fentanyl deaths, rather than pointing to a closing the US border as a single cause.”Read statement
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- Peter Reuter says there is no proof the administration's steps caused the overdose decline
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The Dispute Index. "Peter Reuter says there is no proof the administration's steps caused the overdose decline". First published: 2026-09-09. Last updated: 2026-09-25. https://disputeindex.com/events/191-reuter-said-the-cited-administration-actions-had-not