Cruz’s family has its own story of the impact of addiction

Drug addiction is an issue that hits close to home for Sen. Ted Cruz.

And it’s a big issue to voters in New Hampshire who filed into the Emmanuel Baptist Church on Thursday to hear candidates of both parties speak in a roundtable discussion on the heroin epidemic now ravaging the nation. New Hampshire alone lost at least 385 lives to heroin overdose in 2015, according to the state medical examiner.

Jessica Nickel, executive director of the Addiction Policy Forum, hosted the discussion and voiced her frustration over the lack of progress in the past three decades to treat addiction disorders. She said only 10 percent of addicts receive any treatment.

Cruz, a Texas Republican, took the podium and recounted in subdued tones about the loss of his step-sister Miriam to drug addiction and his intervention to save her son Joey. He went on to say that his father was a drunk and abandoned him and his mother when Cruz was only three. After sharing his personal testimony, he shifted his focus to policy and prevention.

“Now, I will note there is a second thing,” Cruz said with rising voice, “that can make a real difference — which is securing the borders.”

Cruz said that the U.S. border with Mexico is unsecured and pointed to the drug cartels in their continued trafficking of humans and heroin. He pointed out the increase of confiscated heroin in recent years as a consequence of unsecured borders.

Cruz emphasized that the borders must be permanently secured to dam the drug stream. He touched on building 700 miles of reinforced fencing, combined with tripling the number of Border Patrol personnel and quadrupling surveillance aircraft as a start to this problem. Still the greatest obstacle is a lack of political will.

In his view, politicians of both parties look askew of the problem when they see illegal immigration as a source of votes and cheap labor.

“You know there is a politically correct term now for illegal aliens,” Cruz noted with amusement. “It’s called ‘undocumented Democrats.’”

Cruz detoured from his message by pointing out the connection between illegal immigration and economic stagnation in the U.S. He said that median wages in this country have remained the same for the past 20 years and Washington’s lack of action undermines the American middle class.

Cruz also took aim at the Obama administration with a disclosure by Brandon Judd, head of the Border Patrol Union, that this administration ordered the Border Patrol to stand down, release apprehended, illegal aliens, and not to follow them.

“What lunacy is this?” Cruz asked, “When law enforcement is prevented from doing its job.”

Cruz ended by giving his “solemn commitment” to secure the borders and stop the flow of drugs if elected president.

Clinton’s plan

Vermont governor Peter Shumlin spoke on behalf of Hillary Clinton, presenting her five-point plan to end the heroin problem. He touched on everything from criminal justice reform to a change in national mindset toward the disease itself.

“Let’s work together on prevention so that we can stop the flow,” Shumlin said. “All I cans say is that I don’t think there is a better plan in America.”

Shumlin has worked closely with Clinton on curtailing substance abuse and voiced his dissatisfaction with the FDA over the apparent easy approval of opioid painkillers.

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 9:06 PM with the headline "Cruz’s family has its own story of the impact of addiction."