And now, a break from your regularly scheduled Donald Trump news. The Senate has passed a bill 94 to 1 to respond to the drug crisis in the U.S., which has killed more Americans than car crashes. It is the largest of its kind since 2008.
In the Republican-controlled Senate, this bill is a huge help in elections for Republican senators. In particular, Senators Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Rob Portman of Ohio, whose states have been hit hard by the opioid epidemic, helped to lead the bill towards approval. Measures of the bill include:
Allocating funds for treatment programs for addicts, including jailed ones
Strengthens monitoring systems for prescription drug abuse
Expands availability of Narcan (shoutout to wellness with Meriwether)
Increases disposal sites for prescription drug abusers
Some Democrats in the Senate, like Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, have called out the bill for not providing $600 million to pay for some of the programs the bill creates, saying, "What good are additional programs if they aren't adequately funded?"
Excitingly, the massive epidemic has led to cooperation between Democrats and Republicans, which is nowadays rarer than a Jeb supporter. In the House, however, the bill's fate is uncertain. There is not strong Republican support, but many committees are working on it. The House is in recess this week, so don't expect any progress soon.
What do you think?
Is this bill a good idea?
Should the extra $600 million have been allocated?
Is this a stepping stone for further programs?
Will the bill pass in the House?
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/us/politics/senate-drug-abuse-bill.html?ref=politics&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/07/us/drug-overdose-deaths-in-the-us.html
5 comments:
Thanks for the break Willy. It is clear that drugs have always been, will pretty much always be a problem in any given society. That being said, there are many ways to go about treating the victims of addiction and the distributors of drugs. Unfortunately, it is evident that the war on drugs has been rather ineffective and that treating victims of addiction as morally distraught individuals, who are condemned to a jail cell, has been just as ineffective. Thus, I believe that the bill is a great idea. I personally believe that the clinical treatment of addiction and the rehabilitation of its victims in essential to creating a more responsible population. Additionally, this provides the ability to possibly clear up some of the jail space in the United States, seeing that our prison system is overcrowded and extremely expensive.
I personally think the extra $600 million would have been a nice prospect for the program, however, I don't know enough about the subject or its finances to make an educated statement. Hopefully this bill will be a stepping stone on the proliferation of programs regarding substance abuse in America. If this bill is to not pass in the House, something else has to be done.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/us/politics/senate-drug-abuse-bill.html?ref=politics&_r=0
What a refreshing post! I can always count on Will to supply our weekly dose of perspective.
Also, your post is rife with information undoubtedly learned in Wellness. Good on you for applying the information in a relevant area!
As for the bill, I am very encouraged to see progress in the arena of drug abuse. It is the greatest threat facing our youth today and it gets so little national attention. I would hope a bill like this portends well for our overall progression in this issue, i.e. removing the stigma that asserts addiction is a moral failure rather than a medical condition. The United States, contrasting with our usual trailblazing attitude, is quite far behind other first-world nations in addressing drug abuse. We have overwhelmingly treated it as a moral failing and a crime and as a result we have the highest incarceration rate in the world. It's time to catch up. Hopefully, the passage of this bill, which was accomplished with strong bipartisan support, is indicative of more positive developments to come.
I think that the bill is a good idea because it promotes the rehabilitation and care of these drug users and victims instead of punishing them for their addictions and habits. This will improve the nature of society rather than destroy the morals further and offer no support. This offers a way to help the community and turn addiction victims back into contributing members of society. I think that despite the lack of allocated funds, the programs should begin and be allocated the money later. They should at least develop an initial plan and way they plan on going about this loose idea of rehabilitation for these people. I think that this is definitely a stepping stone for future programs because it opens a new door to the idea of helping instead of persecuting these drug users and helping them become a productive member of society again.
I think that the bill will pass in the House due to the overwhelming support of 94 to 1 in the Senate for the bill.
I think the bill is a good starting point for further actions to be taken on the drug issues in America. It is a very flawed bill which I agree does need more funds allocated to it to fund the programs and adequately treat the problems. More to my surprise is the cohesion between the Democrats and Republicans in working together to get this bill passed. I think $600 million dollars is an appropriate amount to start with to fund these programs because they are more important than people think and require a certain amount of money to start up the programs. I think it is smart that they are funding programs of a wide variety. Whether it is helping people in jail, or supplying narcan to first responders to stop an overdose, all of these will help prevent and heal America of one of its biggest issues. I believe this is a bill that can help reunite the people and hopefully fix some of the differences in the government between republicans and democrats. If this bill is passed it will most likely lead to more bills of this sort being passed in the future.
I agree with rubytuesday that this is a good start for the war against drugs. Like WillyB said in his article, more Americans now are dying from drugs than from car crashes. I think that the $600 million, although it seems like a lot especially when our country is already in $19 trillion of debt, will be money well spent. If the bill is successful and properly funded with this money, America would be a safer country. Right now it is easy to get prescription drugs even though they can be as lethal as illegal drugs such as cocaine. More regulations are necessary in order to get this under control and there won't be any harmful outcome because the people who truly do need a prescription drug will still be able to get them. Also by doing this there will be less drugs lying around the house. A lot of patients only use the prescription until they feel better, not until all the medicine is out. Consequently there are bottles of extra pills lying around that teenagers often take from their unknowing parents. By prescribing less drugs there will be less and the house and kids won't be able to steal them as easily. What's more a lot of the problems America faces now boil down to drugs. A large portion of America's population is struggling economically. Many these people are coming from communities where drugs have a big presence. Because of the influence drugs can have of people these communities become violent and/or pressure filled so that many of the residents end up on drugs or selling them. This is an unfair disadvantage and one that is preventable if we can get drugs off the streets. Also, it should be noted that although this bill was proposed by a Republican, it was agreed on by both Republicans and Democrats; a rare occurrence. This concurrent of the two parties should further indicate the importance of this bill and hopefully the House will see this and pass it as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/us/politics/senate-drug-abuse-bill.html?ref=politics&_r=0
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