Answer Addiction

Tag: andrew yang

  • Andrew Yang Wants To Invest In Safe Consumption Sites

    Andrew Yang Wants To Invest In Safe Consumption Sites

    “I would not only decriminalize opiates for personal use but I would also invest in safe consumption sites around the country.”

    Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang discussed his plans to decriminalize opioids and the need for harm reduction sites during an interview featured on The Hill released this week. 

    “I would not only decriminalize opiates for personal use but I would also invest in safe consumption sites around the country,” Yang told Krystal Ball in a recent interview. “You go home and you’re still addicted and you wind up in many cases overdosing again. We need to refer these people to counseling, treatment and safe consumption sites as needed.”

    Yang took Purdue Pharma and the government to task for their roles in the ongoing opioid epidemic.

    “At this point we have to say this was a systemic failure of capitalism run amok in the worst and most destructive way possible and that our government should come clean, claw back the resources from the drug companies and put them to work in communities to try to make people stronger and healthier—but also say to individuals who are struggling with addiction that this is not a crime of personal character, this is a systemic problem and if you’re using drugs and addicted, we should be referring you to counseling and treatment and not a prison cell,” he said.

    Julian Castro Is In Favor Of Safe Consumption Sites Too

    Julian Castro, another Democratic presidential candidate has made headlines recently for his statements on safe consumption sites. Castro discussed his views and policies while speaking at a forum hosted by the Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition. 

    “I would like these communities to be able to pursue these safe consumption spaces and essentially pilot out how they work,” he said, according to Marijuana Moment. “I believe that we owe it to the effort to see how we can make sure that we avoid [overdose deaths].

    “We’ve been trying it one way for so long and I also believe, having been a mayor of a city, that one of the values of local communities is that they can try out policy in their own community and measure the results and see how it works. The system that we have in place right now doesn’t seem to be working very much at all. Whether it’s Philadelphia or its some of the other cities that have tried it, I believe that we should allow for the piloting of these programs and that that will help us come to a determination nationally about the approach.”

    Sanders & Warren

    Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have also expressed support for safe consumption sites in their platforms. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Yang, Beto Discuss Unusual Solutions to The Opioid Epidemic

    Yang, Beto Discuss Unusual Solutions to The Opioid Epidemic

    The presidential candidates made the case for marijuana legalization and opioid decriminalization during a recent debate.

    Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke spoke about marijuana as a replacement for opioid pain pills during the Democratic primary debate on Tuesday (Oct. 15), while fellow candidate Andrew Yang expressed his support for decriminalizing opioids and opening safe injection sites. 

    O’Rourke shared a story about a veteran he had met who was addicted to heroin. He suggested that if the man had access to marijuana, he wouldn’t have become hooked on opioids, according to Marijuana Moment. 

    Marijuana Legalization

    “Now imagine that veteran, instead of being prescribed an opioid, had been prescribed marijuana, because we made that legal in America [and] ensured the VA could prescribe it, expunge the arrest records for those who’d been arrested for possession and made sure that he was not prescribed something to which he would become addicted,” O’Rourke said. 

    Asked directly whether marijuana is part of the answer the the opioid crisis, O’Rourke answered, “Yes it is.”

    As O’Rourke was speaking, Yang said, “Yes, preach Beto.”

    Decriminalizing Opioids

    During the debate, Yang expressed his support not only for legalizing marijuana, but for decriminalizing opioids, including heroin. 

    He said, “We need to decriminalize opioids for personal use. We need to let this country know this is not a personal failing, this was a systemic government failing. Then we need to open up safe consumption and safe injection sites around the country because they save lives.” 

    Yang continued, “We have to recognize [addiction] is a disease of capitalism run amok.”

    He pointed out, “There was a point where there were more opioid prescriptions in the state of Ohio than human beings in the state of Ohio, and for some reason the federal government thought that was appropriate.”

    Public Health Issue

    Yang said that because the government was complicit in the over-sale of opioids, it needed to support people who are now addicted to opioids. 

    “If the government turned a blind eye to this company, spreading a plague among its people, then the least we can do is put a resource into work in our communities so that people have a fighting chance to get well, even though this is not a money problem,” he said. “We all know this is a human problem. Part of helping people get the treatment that they need is to let them know that they’re not going to be referred to a prison cell, they will be referred to treatment and counseling.”

    Other more mainstream candidates including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have supported harm reduction policies as well. 

    View the original article at thefix.com