Clinton’s campaign will make substance abuse, mental health key issues

[riversedge]

I remember that this was one of the first issues she campaigned about last year. So important to so many. She will put all she has into making this a reality.


to NCTraveler who reminded me of this important issue.



Clinton’s campaign will make substance abuse, mental health key issues


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/05/31/clintons-campaign-will-make-substance-abuse-mental-health-key-issues/

By Katie Zezima May 31, 2015

Hillary Rodham Clinton wants to make substance abuse and mental health key issues of her campaign. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

This post has been updated.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's policy advisers held discussions with stakeholders in Iowa and New Hampshire who are involved in helping people dealing with substance abuse and mental illness, as Clinton looks to make those issues a large part of her 2016 presidential campaign.

Clinton senior policy advisers Ann O'Leary and Maya Harris participated in Google hangouts Thursday and Friday with treatment providers, law enforcement officers, local politicians and others in Iowa and New Hampshire, a Clinton aide said. The groups discussed the scourge of opiate addiction, which is decimating New Hampshire and is a growing problem in Iowa, and the use of methamphetamines in Iowa.

Clinton's campaign said she has asked her policy advisers to come up with creative ways to reach out to stakeholders in Iowa and New Hampshire about substance abuse and mental health issues and plans to use the information to develop policy proposals in the coming weeks and months.

[Hillary Clinton sets June date for official campaign announcement rally]

Clinton has been asked about substance abuse by voters. Pamela Livengood of Keene, N.H. -- who has guardianship of her 5-year-old grandson because her daughter, who is struggling with addiction, can't care for him -- asked Clinton about substance abuse.

“This is a quiet epidemic, and it is striking in small towns and rural areas as much as any big city,” Clinton said.

She also brought up the issue at a house gathering in Mason City, Iowa.

“The drug epidemic, meth, pills in Iowa, and then I got to New Hampshire and at my very first coffee shop meeting I heard about the heroin epidemic in New Hampshire,” Clinton said. “This is tearing families apart, but it is below the surface. People aren’t talking about it, because it’s something that is hard to deal with,” she said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths involving heroin increased from 3,041 in 2008 to 8,260 in 2013, the latest statistics available.

A Clinton adviser said the candidate thinks that treatment facilities must be adequately funded and insurance companies should approach treating addiction as they would any other chronic disease. This person said that Clinton's conversations on the trail and her advisers' discussions with people working on the issue have made the subject a priority for her campaign.........................................

[MrTriumph]

1. The election will not turn on these issues.

Yes, they are important, but has any of these been an issue in the primaries. No. They are not hot button issues and this election is all about hot button issues like globalization and immigration.

[NCTraveler]

6. We have had people making death threats.

It is currently a front and center element of the primaries. I can think of no better time to bring it up than after a sick individaul threatened to cut the tongue out of a Democrat for supporting Clinton and banging on his windows as well. These people need our help. Desperately. I fight for all Americans. Not just the ones who vote how I want.

[auntpurl]

14. Yeah, but it should.

And I for one appreciate Hillary bringing it into the discussion.

[Cosmic Kitten]

2. Hillary needs to crack down on marijuana abuse

She needs to keep the drug war
going until we defeat substance abuse.

Bring those pot smokers to heel.
Those prisons won't fill themselves!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. Given who her opponents are an emphasis on mental health seems prudent.

[Jester Messiah]

4. Probably for the best.

Because I'd have to be drunk out of my mind to even consider voting for her.

[NCTraveler]

5. This is really a huge deal.

It is an area we must focus on. All aspects of society will benefit.

[PufPuf23]

7. What do you think this means regarding pot?

What is your personal opinion regarding pot?

I think it should be legal and that regulation where partially or totally legal is not mature, in some cases a mess, and local regulation not sufficient. That said, I would like to see big business kept out of production and distribution.

[NCTraveler]

10. I would like to see pot legalized.

I stand in opposition to Clinton on pot policy.

Pot is not the beginning or end when it comes to mental health issues.

Your last paragraph is not legible. I don't mean that in a rude manner. I've read it multiple times and can't make sense of it.

[PufPuf23]

12. I need more coffee and should have made several sentences.

Thank you.

"I think it should be legal and that regulation where partially or totally legal is not mature, in some cases a mess, and local regulation not sufficient. That said, I would like to see big business kept out of production and distribution."

(1) I think it should be legal - my opinion is that pot should be legal for medical and recreational uses.

(2) regulation where partially or totally legal is not mature - current regulations regards now legal forms of pot use and production are not "mature" meaning there is a haphazard of incomplete approaches at the county, state, and other local levels.

(3) regulation is a mess - see (2) plus there are folks not acting in good faith or otherwise gaming and taking advantage of the status quo which is in flux.

(4) local regulation not sufficient - I would like to see comprehensive federal regulation including explicit rules on medical marijuana to protect patients access and assure appropriate use. Different strains of pot have different characteristics and should be tested and labeled as such. The regulations for recreational use should be limited to consumer protection, example would be to exclude dangerous contaminants. All Americans have same access and rules. Didn't mention but legalization and a golden age of marijuana studies would be a good thing.

(5) I would like to see big business kept out of production and distribution - don't want to see pot distribution or production taken over by existing medical and other corporations. Small business model with minimal profiteering (which is rampant now, my home and place of residence in old age is Humboldt county, CA). Medical production separate and different rules and controls than recreational production. Recreational production on models similar to premium wine or craft beer. Personal use growing but non-profit.

Hope that fleshing out that confusing paragraph helps explain my opinions.

Now more coffee. My jones.

[NCTraveler]

15. Thank you for that.

Outside of point five I agree with every word. I would go further. I want it flat out legalized at the federal, state and municipal levels with quality control and operating regulations in place. That includes its own tax. I would place no restrictions on who could sell it outside of proper licensing and proper practices following regulation.

I am strongly opposed to Clinton on this one.

[Cosmic Kitten]

8. She should focus on STERIOD abuse TOO!

There is an epidemic of athletes
using performance enhancing drugs.
LEO's too!

Get Steroid abuse out of sports
and law enforcement!

[NCTraveler]

11. That wouldn't hurt.

Even playing field and less stress on youth athletics.

[PufPuf23]

9. The mentally ill are a group that are scape goated, mis-understood, and left behind

by American society.

There is much in the modern world that is crazy making and a lack of empathy, love, and acceptance.

Too many people with metal health problems are left on their own and whatever resources are there for them, however insufficient, come with too many strings attached.

Big problems are self-medicating and more so how the mentally ill are treated by most individuals and institutions.

Folks already having difficulty dealing with the world are labeled and their lives complicated rather than eased.

Then they give up or descend further into illness.

[auntpurl]

13. And bless her for it.

Mental illness and substance abuse are the #1 and 2 reasons for overstuffed prisons, homelessness, and crime.

[PufPuf23]

16. Properly addressing mental illness would have great positive impact on homelessness, prison, and

crime.

So we agree.

Most substance abuse is for untreated mental illness, despair, and emotional or physical pain.

People would be less anti-social if their needs for security, belonging, and happiness were met.

Not all situations have an answer or positive outcome unfortunately.

Public policy can't replace personal and family and community effort but certainly can help in resources and tone.

[frylock]

17. How much is this FREE STUFF! going to cost me?

My taxes are too high as it is.