Joe Biden's ambitious plan for opioid crisis

[emmaverybo]

Joe Biden’s new plan to end the opioid epidemic is the most ambitious in the field
The plan emphasizes more addiction treatment and prevention — and less war on drugs.

By German [e-mail]@vox.com Mar 6, 2020, 2:40pm EST


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Vice President Joe Biden this week released a plan to combat the opioid epidemic, the deadliest drug overdose crisis in US history.

The plan is the most detailed and expansive proposal on the opioid crisis released by any of the presidential campaigns, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, Biden’s current Democratic rival in the primary, or by President Donald Trump.

It would put $125 billion over 10 years — the largest funding commitment of any 2020 campaign — to scaling up drug addiction treatment and other prevention and recovery programs, paid for with higher taxes on pharmaceutical companies’ profits. It would also take steps to stop the overprescription of opioid painkillers while encouraging better care for cHhronic pain, and it would try to slow the flow of illicit drugs from China and Mexico. It would also take steps to “reform the criminal justice system so that no one is incarcerated for drug use alone.”

The opioid crisis remains a huge problem across much of the country. Although 2018 saw the first decline in drug overdose deaths in decades, more people died of drug overdoses that year than of gun violence, car crashes, or HIV/AIDS at its peak, and the toll of more than 67,000 was still the second-highest drug overdose fatality rate, after 2017’s, in US history. Meanwhile, there are signs that drug overdose deaths involving stimulants, like cocaine and meth, and synthetic opioids, particularly illicit fentanyl, are still rising. That’s why experts argue a much more ambitious investment is required to fight the crisis and prevent future ones.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/6/21167803/joe-biden-opioid-epidemic-plan-drug-overdoses

[Cha]

1. Excellent.. the only way.

Thank you, emmaverybo~

[Tarheel_Dem]

2. K&R

[gulliver]

3. Getting the criminal justice system off the backs of addicts and their families will be a huge help.

An addict has a tough enough task trying to recover. Currently, for essentially nothing, an addict can be booked and put into a system where the possible outcome is incarceration and a felony record. They need all their strength and hope to fight the addiction. Putting them in the criminal justice system "as is" robs them of strength and hope.

I think this plan will save lives and help a lot of families.

Those who have been incarcerated can be forced to pay "restitution" to the state for the cost of incarcerating them. So they get out with no job, a felony record, and a big debt. That needs to end too. I didn't see it in the plan, but it would be a good addition.

[mcar]

4. Sounds like a real plan