The big public health crisis most presidential campaigns are ignoring
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As many as 45,000 people could die from drug overdoses in the US this year, if the past few years' trend continues. That's more Americans than died at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1990s. It's a serious public health crisis. But if you listen to the many, many people running for president, it barely gets any mention.
The one notable exception: In early September, Hillary Clinton released a $10 billion plan to deal with drug abuse and addiction. But besides that, no candidate, Democrat or Republican, has taken the issue very seriously. They haven't released their own plans. They rarely mention it on the campaign trail. The second Republican debate dealt with the problem for a few minutes, but produced nothing of substance (and actually some false claims from Carly Fiorina).
After the AIDS epidemic broke out, the federal government (rightly) dedicated hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with this new massive public health crisis — particularly through the Ryan White CARE Act and research efforts. And even though the early response, particularly from President Ronald Reagan, is heavily criticized to this day, it eventually became an issue that many politicians took seriously, with Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton both acting on the crisis while they were in office.
Today, we see no similar effort to solve another public health crisis that's taking more lives.
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