Policy Prescriptions: Clinton and Trump on drug addiction
Both presidential candidates agree drug addiction is a major problem in America, but only Clinton has offered a detailed plan to tackle it as part of her campaign.
Trump has long centered his plan on stopping the flow of illegal drugs by building a wall along the southern border.
[...] he has called for expanding enforcement as well as treatment programs, but he has offered no specifics on costs.
Heroin and opioid addiction is at a nationwide peak — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 78 Americans die from a drug overdose every day.
A Drug Enforcement Agency report released this summer says Chinese labs are mass-producing fentanyl and marketing it to North American drug trafficking groups.
Trump says the DEA should limit production of Schedule II opioid painkillers, like oxycodone and fentanyl.
Trump also is promising to end sanctuary cities that he says are harboring illegal immigrants that may be dealing drugs.
State efforts could include building more beds in hospitals and residential treatment facilities, training more health care providers and recovery coaches, subsidizing child care for people in treatment and enforcing parity laws that require insurance companies to cover substance abuse treatment.
Clinton also wants to promote greater use of medically assisted treatment, which can halt drug cravings and create adverse reactions to taking drugs.
In his Oct. 15 speech, he praised running mate Mike Pence for instituting stricter mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses as governor of Indiana and suggested he'd pursue a similar policy federally.