Contact: press@edmarkey.org
Senator Markey on Donald Trump’s Nonexistent Opioid Crisis Plan: We Need Treatment, Not A Wall
October 6, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: press@edmarkey.org
Senator Markey on Donald Trump’s Nonexistent Opioid Crisis Plan: We Need Treatment, Not A Wall
Senator recently passed legislation to expand medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction
MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS – Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) today blasted Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for once again visiting New Hampshire, one of the states hardest hit by prescription drug and heroin addiction and overdoses, without a real plan to address the opioid crisis. Mr. Trump has visited New Hampshire six times as the Republican candidate for president and countless times during the primary, but unlike Hillary Clinton, who released her comprehensive opioid plan in September 2015 in the Granite State, the Republican candidate has yet to outline any detailed steps he would take to address the growing crisis.
“Building a wall is not a comprehensive plan to address our nation’s opioid crisis. Instead of building a wall, we need to tear down the wall of stigma and partisanship that has blocked real funding for responding to this opioid crisis. Patients and their families in New Hampshire and throughout New England don’t need Donald Trump’s empty fantasy; they need concrete support and resources in the form of treatment beds and recovery services. New England has been hard hit by a crisis of prescription drug, heroin and fentanyl overdoses that is taking dozens of lives by the day. All of the years Donald Trump spent avoiding paying federal taxes just meant less money for detox and treatment beds, less money for prevention programs, and less money for law enforcement officials working to stem the flow of these illegal drugs into our communities. Instead of coming to New Hampshire with more empty rhetoric, Donald Trump should present a detailed plan that outlines how he and the Republican party will fight this scourge.”
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