Trump tries to comfort man who lost son to heroin

[Z]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/trump-heroin-epidemic-217853
"What we have to do is we have to make sure that they don't get hooked because it's a tough thing," Donald Trump said.
Trump tries to comfort man who lost son to heroinBy NICK GASSDonald Trump got personal on Friday in answering a father's question about stopping the rampant heroin epidemic.
"I lost my son two years ago to a heroin overdose," a man told Trump at a rally in Urbandale, Iowa, his first event after Thursday night's debate.
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Trump asked whether the man was from Iowa; he responded that he was from Owego, New York, an upstate town in the center of the state that has been no stranger to the influx of heroin in recent years.
"Well, you know they have a tremendous problem in New Hampshire with the heroin. Unbelievable. It's always the first question I get, and they have a problem all over. And it comes through the border," the GOP presidential candidate said. He then repeated his most famous pledge: "We're going to build a wall, number one, we're going to build a wall, and it's going to be a real wall."
Heroin is "pouring across," Trump continued, vowing to "stop that drug traffic because heroin is really tough.""Because they say once you get hooked, it's really tough. In all fairness to your son, it's a tough thing. Some very, very strong people have not been able to get off it," he riffed. "So we have to work with people to get off it, and the biggest thing we can do in honor of your son, actually, and the people that did have problems, big problems, we have to be able to stop it."Trump then paused to comfort the man.
"You just relax, OK? Yeah, it's a tough deal. Come on. It's a tough deal. What we have to do is we have to make sure that they don't get hooked because it's a tough thing," he said. "And I know what you went through."
"And he's a great father, I can see it. And your son is proud of you. Your son is proud of you," he said. "It's tough stuff, it's tough stuff, and it could be stopped. And the best way, you know, the best way to stop it is up front before it happens, because once they start taking it, they say it's brutal."
Other Republicans vying for the party's nomination have addressed the drug epidemic, with some talking emotionally about how substance abuse affected their loved ones. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich all appeared at a New Hampshire forum on fighting the scourge earlier this month.
Just before departing the stage, Trump thanked his audience and pointed in the direction of the man who asked the question to thank him in particular.
"Take care of yourself, OK? It's very cool," he said, giving a thumbs-up. "I bet he was a great boy. Thank you, man."Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/trump-heroin-epidemic-217853   

Check out the video at the link.  Classic trump talking about an issue without actually talking about it.
We have to build a wall to stop the heroin!!  A Real Wall!!

[dizzle]

well what is there to say? I mean he's trying to not jump down either side of this, if he sits here and talks about how we need more enforcement he's gonna get people that hate him, if he says we need to regulate it or clean up the market, he'll get destroyed.

When campaigning, WTF do you do, I'm not attacking anyone here, I'm simply asking the question, from a politicians point of view, at this stage in the game, WHAT WOULD YOUR RESPONSE BE TO THAT QUESTION?


I personally would hit the "stop the influx of drugs into the country by tightening up borders, but then I'd hit on rehab, treatment and the like, but I can see why he stayed away from that, because there (unfortunately) people out there that actually believe that heroin addicts are gutter trash and they should be given "hot-shots" and killed, and, though that extrmeme view may not be super common, there are a lot of people that will say "DONT WASTE OUR TAX DOLLARS SENDING DRUG ADDICTS TO REHAB! They'll just get out and do it again!"


So, it's def a complicated issue from this point, at this stage in the game for Trump.

[gnossos]

Your son OD'ed on heroin? IT'S THOSE DAMN MEXICANS! BUILD A WALL! >_<

Can we please build a wall to keep that motherfucker out instead???

[OpiXPO]

I don't see building a wall and fixing the heroin epidemic as related issues. I will say I'm all for ending illegal immigration, though, I don't think a wall would be as effective as a policy fix.

The opioid issue is a social issue and talking about a wall is confront a legal issue. Confusing the two is the reason our method of combating it has been so ineffective and we have so many deaths. Even more, the reason it impacts the poor communties in the terms of death and jail is that the poor communities can't afford the tools to get help either with addiction or with a legal defense.

[nurse_K]

It would suit mr Trump to start putting up injection rooms, easier / (free?)access to maintenance treatment and other harm reduction facilities.
Actually Mr Trumps answer is a mockery towards those whose lives and families are affected by addiction.
I cannot remember whoever said that " we´ve lost the war on drugs" But I agree. - and historically if its not one substance its another ( or several)
Whynot remove some of the stigma - make access to help easier, and emphasize and implement harm reduction in primary and secondary care facilities

I do not think a wall will make a difference to the drug traffic. Personally Im sick and tired of hearing about that wall as if it the single solution to all the problems in US

[LadyKalma]

I'll bet if trump actually succeeds in building this wall there will be more od's in this country cause it'll probably increase the percentage of opiates that are RCs from china instead. Last time i checked this was causing more od's than simply h from mexico. It really burns my ass that he goes on about stopping the "thugs and cartels and criminals" from mexico and in this country from operating, he wants to crush gangs and drug trade, and also will not realize that decriminalization would cause the gangs and cartels to lose money and power. Could kill two birds with one stone on this one, now that he's already elected and has enough time till the next election for that plan to be put into effect and show positive improvements in less death and crime so that people be able to be convinced that it was working.

But  yeah, I know thats a pipe dream. It'd be my plan if I was elected- that's why im not in office most likely.

[gnossos]

I will say I'm all for ending illegal immigration, though, I don't think a wall would be as effective as a policy fix.

Has everyone forgotten that America was originally founded as a NATION OF IMMIGRANTS? Isn't that supposed to be what makes America so "great"... ya know, "the American dream" and whatnot?

The opioid issue is a social issue and talking about a wall is confront a legal issue. Confusing the two is the reason our method of combating it has been so ineffective and we have so many deaths. Even more, the reason it impacts the poor communties in the terms of death and jail is that the poor communities can't afford the tools to get help either with addiction or with a legal defense.

That lunatic can build a wall around the entire country, people will still find ways to get drugs if they want them.

[OpiXPO]

I guess my history must be a little rusty. I was under the assumption that America was founded as a nation of British Colonialists that were tired of laws being applied selectively and abusively. We didn't break off so we could make laws to ignore, we broke off because of this crap of selectively enforcing laws.

That said, I am ALL for immigration. Completely for it. The issue here is that we are up there in the world's toughest countries to get a visa to enter. We need to cool it on that, I feel that anyone who wants to come to the United States and contribute, should be allowed to, provided they aren't a danger or have a history of being dangerous. If they want to come here to give their families a better life, by all means, they can come. Consequently, the number of people sneaking off across the border will dwindle down to people that genuinely are a threat. It's not even that I fault them for sneaking into the country, I respect them for the crap that they go through to have a CHANCE at a better life.

tldr Immigration = good ; illegal immigration = bad

[Lolleedee]

Exactly!  There should be policy chnage to allow those who want to work and contribute AND are thoroughly vetted to be put on a path to citizenship that doesn't take a decade to accomplish.

While I feel for illegal immigrants who come here searching for a better life, we wind up footing the bill for things such as education and healthcare.  When people scream about how we were founded by immigrants, they fail to realize that they came here legally, through Ellis Island.  They had to have sponsors, health checks etc.  They didn't just show up all willy nilly.

We would not be allowed to immigrate illegally to another country yet some people think we should let that happen here.  I don't quite understand it. 

I am definitely all for legal immigration AND policy changes that meake a path to citizenship more accessable!

[Chip]

Aussies don't need a wall - we got a huge moat !

our immigration policies align with the USA and are very tough.

I am a migrant myself.

[Z]

I think a bigger issue is immigrant students.  There are a lot of Ultra rich families in poor Asian countries who send their kids to university in us, Canada and others. They take the place of others from the country who are no longer able to get into the programs.  Once they are done the program they go home with a prestigious degree. 


The problem is that the countries where they study don't have enough people learning in their own programs and then staying and applying it to further the grocery of the country.


There is a real lack of highly educated folks in the stem fields and others.  One of the paths used to solve this problem is to allow highly trained immigrants special access to fill the needs.  That's only really a band aid on the problem, and leads to resentment when people see new immigrants getting good jobs and the benefits that they don't get.


There needs to be restrictions out on international students.  Immigration is a good short term solution, but if the immigrants children lose their education to rich foreign students then the cycle is just getting worse and worse. Instead of solving the problem more dependants are being added and it just spreads racist tendencies