Elections

In New Hampshire, Donald Trump Unveils Plan to Address ‘Drug Epidemic’

Bob Eschliman 2:00PM October 31, 2016

Following a rally in Bedford, N.H., Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump sat down for a roundtable discussion with community leaders and families who lost loved ones to opioid and heroin addiction.

During the event, Trump’s campaign released his plan to combat drug abuse in the U.S. Here is a brief summary:

More people died from drug overdoses in 2014 than in any other year on record, and more than six out of ten of those deaths involved an opioid, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Overdose deaths from prescription drugs, such as OxyContin, methadone, Vicodin and now the deadly fentanyl, have quadrupled since 1999.

The issues of drug abuse and addiction affect our entire country. People managing debilitating chronic pain get hooked on powerful prescription drugs and even turn to heroin on the street when it becomes too difficult to obtain new prescriptions. It afflicts urban and rural, young and old.

Cartels are sending heroin, fentanyl, and other powerfully addictive drugs over our borders by the truckload. The Drug Enforcement Administration has identified China as the primary source for fentanyl destined for the United States.

President Obama has commuted the sentences of record numbers of high level drug traffickers, many of them kingpins, and violent armed traffickers with extensive criminal histories. Hillary Clinton promises to continue this approach, turning our streets back over to gangs, drug cartels, and armed career criminals.

Donald Trump will enforce the law and pursue a multi-faceted approach to addressing the drug epidemic in the United States.

The TRUMP PLAN Will:

Stop the flow of illegal drugs into the country
- Secure the border, build the wall, end sanctuary cities, aggressively prosecute drug traffickers and deport illegal immigrant cartels and traffickers.
Close shipping loopholes exploited by China and other bad actors.
- Crack down on the abuse of loopholes in the Postal Service to literally mail fentanyl and other drugs to users and dealers in the United States.
Fix the misguided rules and regulations that have made this problem worse.
- Speed up the approval and availability of abuse-deterring drugs.
- Lift the cap on the number of patients that doctors can treat with recovery medications, provided they follow safe prescribing practices and proper treatment supervision.
- Reduce the amount of Schedule II opioids (drugs like oxycodone, methadone and fentanyl) that can be made and sold in the U.S.
Get people struggling with addiction the help they need.
- Support the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act.
- Expand incentives to use drug courts and mandated treatment.
- Expand access to treatment slots and end Medicaid policies that obstruct inpatient treatment.
- Distribute widely naloxone/narcan (opioid antidote to treat OD) to first responders and caregivers.