Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 2016
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2016 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Tracy Jan

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES RELATE TALES OF ADDICTION, BUT ARE SHORT ON ANSWERS

WASHINGTON - On the stump, Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina regularly 
recount struggles within their own families over drug addiction. A 
viral video of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie speaking about the 
overdose death of a close friend gave his campaign a boost in the 
Granite State.

But even as they strike powerful emotional chords about the toll of 
drug abuse, a review of candidates' statements and policy outlines 
shows that few offer concrete proposals to combat the national 
scourge of opiate addiction.

"For those candidates, Carly and Jeb and Christie, to say they have 
these personal stories - fine, we all have these stories. Tell me 
what you're going to do. You're not running to be 
storyteller-in-chief," said Patrick Kennedy, a former US 
representative from Rhode Island who has battled drug and alcohol 
abuse and who is a national advocate for changing the way addiction 
is treated in the health care system.

"Governor Christie is probably the most articulate in terms of 
conveying that this is a disease," Kennedy said. "But the bottom line 
is people are dying by the scores in New Jersey, just as they are in 
New Hampshire."

Advocates say they have told candidates from both parties that the 
federal government needs to more aggressively combat addiction. That 
includes more money for addiction treatment and guidance for what 
steps states can take to curb abuse.

Few presidential candidates have provided policy proposals - as 
voters recall harrowing personal stories.

Democrats, too, have either no plan or weak plans, some critics say. 
In a December debate in Manchester, N.H., Vermont Senator Bernie 
Sanders called for a "radical" change to how addiction is treated in 
America, saying it is a "disease, not a criminal activity." But 
despite representing a state awash with the problem, he has not 
detailed how he would address the crisis as president.

Hillary Clinton announced in the New Hampshire Union Leader in 
September her $10 billion proposal to treat addiction. Clinton is the 
only candidate whose plan comes with a price tag. And although she 
has released more details than most candidates, some advocates 
brushed off her five-point plan as a "token fix" expanding the same 
ineffective strategies in place today.

Christie frequently visits recovery centers while campaigning in New 
Hampshire, where voters have identified drug addiction as one of 
their top concerns. His campaign aired his first ad last fall in New 
Hampshire with Christie's remarks at a town hall, saying he's 
"pro-life" not only for the baby in the womb but also for the 
"16-year-old drug addict who's laying on the floor of the county jail."

During an addiction forum in Hooksett, N.H., this month, Christie 
touted his proposal to create a drug court in each of the 93 federal 
court districts so that nonviolent offenders would be offered 
treatment instead of jail. The money saved by keeping people out of 
prison, he said, should be shifted to creating more treatment programs.

But critics in his home state say Christie has not been effective in 
treating addiction. A Star Ledger editorial said New Jersey invested 
less in treatment in 2015 than when Christie took office in 2010. 
Three-quarters of drug addicts who needed treatment in New Jersey did 
not receive it in 2013 because treatment centers were full or had 
shut down, according to the Newark newspaper.

A Christie campaign spokeswoman rejected those assertions, saying the 
governor has enacted reforms that emphasized treatment.

Drug courts are an old idea, and all states have them; but few, with 
the exception of New Jersey, make it mandatory or offer it in every 
county, according to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.

"How a president talks about this matters," Christie said at the New 
Hampshire forum. "I'll get to concrete steps, too, but I think how 
you talk about it is a concrete step. We don't talk about this in 
public as a disease. We talk about this as a moral failing."

Bush's plan to combat the addiction crisis, unveiled this month, 
focuses on better parenting and increased border security to stem 
drug traffic. In more concrete terms, he would expand drug courts and 
improve prescription drug monitoring. But the former Florida governor 
has not identified costs or described how his plan would work.

"I don't think that every problem needs to be solved by more 
spending, but this was a huge priority," Bush said. "And 
conservatives and liberals alike believed it to be that way."

Bush released a 60-second ad in New Hampshire titled "Recovery," 
featuring him telling voters about his daughter, Noelle, spending 
time in jail, then drug court.

"There's a solution to this, but it requires leadership," he said in the ad.

Other candidates have been more vague.

Front-runner Donald Trump has said the wall he wants to build along 
the Mexican border would keep out drugs.

Ohio Governor John Kasich said that teachers should preach a weekly 
antidrug message but that prevention education would not require more money.

"You get up in front of sixth-graders and all you have to do is once 
a week you say, 'Let me tell you something: don't do drugs, OK?' 
That's what we need to be doing," Kasich said. Last fall, Kasich 
allocated $1.5 million to expand Ohio's prescription drug monitoring 
system to alert pharmacists to addicts shopping for painkillers.

Fiorina, whose stepdaughter, Lori Ann, died of a drug overdose, 
released her plan this month in an op-ed in Time. The former Hewlett 
Packard executive said the nation needed to invest more in mental 
health and treating drug addiction but does not say how much more. 
She advocated for treatment over prison for nonviolent offenders but 
does not detail how she would do so. She praised specific state 
programs but does not say how she would expand them.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has also connected with voters by talking on 
many occasions about the death of his half-sister from drugs. But 
other than criticizing "harsh mandatory sentences for nonviolent drug 
crimes" as ineffective, unfair, and contributing to prison 
overpopulation, he has not released a plan to combat the opiate crisis.

"We're hearing a lot of well-tailored personal messages that grab 
headlines, but I'm not seeing any concrete substance to proposals 
being presented," said John Burns, of Somersworth, N.H., a recovering 
drug addict who founded Families Hoping and Coping in 2014.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who has criticized the "War on Drugs" and 
sponsored a bill to expand specialized treatment for prescription 
drug and heroin addiction, has said providing jobs would help curb 
the addiction crisis. "If you work all day long, you don't have time 
to do heroin," he said in New Hampshire last fall.

The only problem: New Hampshire has one of the lowest unemployment 
rates in the country, yet the number of people dying from opiate 
overdoses is projected to rise more than 23 percent in 2015 from the 
previous year, according to the state medical examiner.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom