Watch Hands Go Up When Hillary Clinton Asks Who's Been Affected By Substance Abuse

[riversedge]

Source: HuffingtonPost





Watch Hands Go Up When Hillary Clinton Asks Who's Been Affected By Substance Abuse
"I’ve had two town halls right here in New Hampshire...where the only subject was substance abuse."

Sam Stein
Senior Politics Editor, The Huffington Post

12/09/2015 03:44 pm ET | Updated 11 hours ago

New Hampshire's struggles with a heroin and opioid epidemic have gained national attention as presidential candidates swinging through the early primary state have been confronted with personal tales about the drug's impact.

But the extent of the epidemic -- how it has overwhelmed the state's cities, hospitals and fire departments -- is still hard to fathom. Consider this: By the end of November, the Manchester Fire Department had responded to 683 suspected overdose calls during the year, or more than two a day. According to fire department data, the city had also witnessed 81 overdose-related deaths, the youngest being 18 years old, and the oldest being 68. (Manchester has a population of about 110,000.)

The latest example of the epidemic's severity came in a town hall Hillary Clinton held Tuesday in Salem, New Hampshire, where the Democratic front-runner was asked about the role the government should play in helping the afflicted.

"I’ve had two town halls right here in New Hampshire ... where the only subject was substance abuse," she said. "And I have had some of the most emotional discussions with family members, with recovering addicts, with people who finally got the help they needed.”..............

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-heroin-new-hampshire_566880cfe4b009377b236d1b

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Town hall meetings is where Hillary listens and learns form the people.




Huffington Post
Hillary Clinton asks the crowd at a town hall in New Hampshire if they have been affected by the substance abuse epidemic.

[Cha]

1. So many of us, rivers.. thank you!

[Feeling the Bern]

2. Work to end the criminalization of a physical illness

[get the red out]

3. I agree

And religion isn't a medically successful alternative either.

[Feeling the Bern]

4. Being a recovering alcoholic, I rejected that bible crap of AA. Speaking of religion

[get the red out]

6. Funny thing for me is

I am not an Atheist, but have my own thoughts on the subject, and a lot of fear ingrained from my fire and brimstone family that has been hard to work through in traditional recovery. I haven't drank in 23 years, but my SEVER history of OCD made it hard not to obsess about anything I thought might make me drink and die.

The end of my isolation from other human beings through meetings saved my life, but did nothing to help my mental health issues, which I hid to avoid being told that I must not be trusting God or I wouldn't have them. I think real, scientifically researched approaches could have spared me a long time of suffering before I secretly sought mental health care. Though I know little was known about OCD treatment at the time.

I was incredibly broken and literally could NOT find a way to pick and choose my own beliefs when I sobered up. If someone wants religion, have at it, but society shouldn't accept spiritual approaches from 1938 as a cure-all for addiction. 1938 treatment methods for other "diseases" aren't ingrained as the only approaches in our collective minds.

Sorry for being so long-winded, and I don't want to make others angry or say anything to get me hidden or banned. I just see the need to address addiction in a variety of ways and treat people as individuals who are not necessarily more immoral and flawed in character than other mere humans.

[Cha]

5. KICK!

[getagrip_already]

7. Why can't we just treat this as a medical condition...

Set up free 24 hour clinics and dispense measured doses, provide general health screening, reduce transmission of disease through dirty needles,and urge counseling. It will eliminate crime surrounding fix maintenance, reduce od's, and move people along the line to treatment.

That isn't a new social experiment, it's actually working in other countries.

Or perhaps, allow research into new drugs that will break opium withdrawal and dependency.

But no, if you listen to "those" people, they would prefer the addicts just die. They are even against narcan and clean needles.

[jalan48]

8. ^^^^^^ This^^^

Take the profit out of illegal drugs and the supply will dwindle.

[get the red out]

10. Harm reduction

Oh my! We can't actually help these people reduce the harm done to themselves and treat them like humans, much less allow them to make decisions on their own! That would be immoral!

[beerandjesus]

11. Whoa, way to take a bold stand, Hillary!

Here, let me finish this news story:


HANDS (continued)

After winning enthusiastic applause with her brave declaration that substance abuse is bad, and that a lot of people are affected by it, Hillary burnished her left-wing credentials with by asking the crowd, "Who here thinks donuts are tasty?"

A hush went over the crowd, as if Hillary's audacity were simply too much for the group to bear. But then, one by one, hands went up in the air, until the whole crowd burst into spontaneous applause.

But Hillary wasn't done yet--she had saved her masterstroke for last. Demonstrating once and for all how she will NOT be intimidated, and will take the fight directly to the Republicans where they live and breathe, she asked the crowd, "Who here thinks puppies are cute?"

The crowd went wild.