[caption id=”attachment_144262″ align=”aligncenter” width=”5130″] Republican presidential candidates gather on stage before a forum Monday, Aug. 3, 2015, in Manchester, N.H. From left: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, George Pataki, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, and Scott Walker. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
[/caption]
The outsized influence of New Hampshire on elections gives it a pulpit to focus on pet issues. This election cycle, the pet cause is drugs.
According to The Daily Beast, Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas has pressured presidential candidates to address the state’s heroin epidemic and craft policy to address it. Almost a dozen candidates have spoken with Gatsas, and it showed in last week’s Fox News Republican presidential candidate debate.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich mentioned Manchester and its drug problems, and Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio have discussed it in other forums. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker spoke on a New Hampshire radio station, citing the drug problem as reason to divert federal resources back to states and localities.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heroin usage among young adults between 18 and 25 years old has doubled in the last decade. The driving risk factor for heroin addiction is addiction to painkillers.
As heroin addiction grows, so has the media attention.
Anthony Bourdain’s CNN travel show, Parts Unknown, for instance, focused on drug addiction in western Massachusetts and the heroin problem throughout New England.
While Gatsas has drawn more attention to the drug issue and talked with candidates, specific proposals have been scarce.
As the New Hampshire primary approaches, a fuller picture of the candidates’ positions on drugs will be central to the debate throughout the state, whether they want to discuss it or not.
