I haven’t decided who I’ll support in the upcoming primary season. But here’s something that sets Warren apart (so far).
From Vox:
Warren, along with Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), in 2018 introduced what experts regularly cite as the best bill in Congress on the issue: the Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency (CARE) Act. The bill would authorize $100 billion over 10 years to combat drug addiction, funneling money to cities, counties, and states — particularly those hardest hit by drug overdoses — and other organizations to boost spending on addiction treatment, harm reduction services, and prevention programs…
...so far, no presidential candidate but Warren has put forward a concrete plan to confront the opioid epidemic…
...drug overdoses now kill more people in the US each year than HIV/AIDS did at its peak...
The CARE Act makes the kind of commitment that advocates and experts have called for. As I’ve traveled around North America and talked to people on the ground about the opioid epidemic, experts and activists have, without even being asked about federal legislation, pointed to the CARE Act as an example of a serious attempt to tackle the crisis...
Warren and Cummings’s bill has not moved far in Congress. In the House, it got 81 cosponsors — not close to a majority. In the Senate, it got zero cosponsors.
Warren and Cummings plan to reintroduce the CARE Act, with some slight tweaks, in the next couple of months…
... no other proposal from federal lawmakers has come close to the scope of the CARE Act.
I’ve started keeping a list of people I personally know who have lost a loved one to substance abuse. The deceased were mostly middle-class; some poor, some quite affluent.
I’m up to fourteen.