Pubdate: Sat, 22 Aug 2015
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2015 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: James Pindell

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES CONFRONT OPIOID EPIDEMIC IN N.H.

KEENE, N.H. - When Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jeb Bush made their 
inaugural visits to New Hampshire this year as presidential 
candidates, the first question they were asked wasn't about their 
last names, the economy - or even about an e-mail server.

It was about the state's opioid epidemic.

One by one, as the candidates march through New Hampshire, they are 
forced to confront the state's drug crisis through sorrowful, 
first-hand testimonies of addiction. A recent poll showed the drug 
crisis ranked second as the biggest issue facing the state - ahead of 
health care, education, and an unresolved state budget.

Drug addiction, including heroin and other opioids, has emerged as a 
central issue on the campaign trail - especially in New 
Hampshire,where 321 people died of opioid overdoses in 2014 and state 
officials estimate 1,000 will die this year for the same reason. 
Candidates have struggled with answers - and few have provided policy 
proposals - as voters recall harrowing personal stories or those from 
loved ones hurt or killed by addiction.

"The heroin epidemic is the sleeper issue of the 2016 campaign in a 
way I have never seen an issue emerge in the New Hampshire primary," 
said New England College professor Wayne Lesperance. "What has really 
struck me is that these heroin questions usually begin with a 
personal story, and then the candidate usually tells a story back. 
This issue ends up being about as personal as we see [in] these 
people running for president."

While former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina was 
running for the US Senate in California five years ago, her 
35-year-old stepdaughter died from a drug overdose. She avoided the 
topic until recently. Today, Fiorina regularly brings up her family's 
tragedy with voters during her frequent and long visits to New Hampshire.

"We lost a daughter to addiction, so this is personal to me. I get 
it," Fiorina said in response to a question about the drug crisis at 
a Salem, N.H., house party in May.

'The heroin epidemic is the sleeper issue of the 2016 campaign.'

Also that month, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey had roundtable 
meetings in Manchester and Franklin to discuss addiction. In his home 
state, Christie said he's tried to focus on recovery more than law 
enforcement. But he also talks about how a good friend from law 
school was found "in a hotel room with an empty bottle of Percocet 
and a bottle of vodka. And he was gone."

Governor John Kasich of Ohio said the issue became personal for him 
when a group of mothers visited his office.

"They all came with pictures of their sons, all of whom had been 
athletes, all of whom were dead. These ladies said, 'Will you help 
us?' I said, 'Are you kidding?' " Kasich said at a recent New 
Hampshire town hall meeting. "So we took action immediately."

On Wednesday, when the issue came up at a Bush town hall meeting in 
Merrimack, the former Florida governor got personal about his 
daughter's struggle with drug addiction. In 2002, Noelle Bush, then 
25, was sentenced to 10 days in jail for violating her drug treatment 
after crack cocaine was found in her shoe.

"I have some personal experience with this as a dad, and it is the 
most heartbreaking thing in the world to have to go through," he 
said, according to CNN.

To be sure, the hallmark of New Hampshire politics - its town hall 
meetings - are typically filled with questions for candidates on 
immigration, the economy, and foreign policy concerns. These are the 
kinds of inquiries for which candidates prepare and practice their answers.

But when it comes to the question about drug addiction, candidates 
have proven they can provide empathy - but not yet solutions. It's 
rare for candidates to offer detailed policy proposals at this point 
in the campaign, more than five months before the New Hampshire 
primary. However, not a single candidate has offered a comprehensive 
federal plan for dealing with the drug addiction crisis.

When Clinton made her most recent trip to the state earlier this 
month, she held a 90-minute campaign event that focused solely on 
drug addiction. She asked questions of people closest to the problem 
- - public health specialists, law enforcement officials, and recovery 
counselors. Aides said Clinton will release a plan to address the 
issue in the next few weeks.

During her roundtable, she talked about the son of good friends in 
New York who died after he took pills that he thought would help him 
stay up to study for law school finals. Also during her trip, Clinton 
met two grandmothers in New Hampshire who are taking care of their 
grandchildren because their daughters were addicted to drugs.

Curt Maddon who works at the Granite House in Derry and said he's 
been in recovery for 20 years, attended the Clinton event in Keene 
and said he was thrilled to simply see a presidential candidate 
dedicate an entire event to the issue.

"The problem is the worst that I have seen in 20 years," said Maddon, 
who is undecided who he will support for president. "For Clinton to 
hold an event on this and ask the right questions shows leadership to me."

A few hours after Clinton held her event on addiction, Gary Carpenter 
of Peterborough got a front-row seat at a town hall meeting for 
Kasich. He came to the event for a purpose: He wanted to hear Kasich 
talk about what he would do about heroin and addiction.

Kasich said he started a program to increase dialogue about drug 
addiction in Ohio, as well as increased law enforcement efforts and 
drug rehabilitation in prisons.

Then Kasich recalled a recent campaign stop in Manchester, where he 
ran into some youths at a business. He said he did not ask for their 
vote. Instead, he told them, "you have a responsibility to keep your 
friends from getting into drugs."

"A reporter said that I acted like I was their dad," Kasich told the 
crowd. "And I am going to act like dad because we have to spread the word."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom