Yang Gang --

Every hour, eight Americans die from overdoses.  It’s gotten so bad that drug overdoses have overtaken car accidents as one of the top causes of death in America, and our nation’s life expectancy has decreased for the last three years.

It’s a crisis of capitalism run amok.

Our government was complicit in enabling this epidemic because they looked the other way while Purdue Pharma and others dispensed hundreds of thousands of OxyContin prescriptions as a non-addictive wonder drug.  And now we’re all grappling with the aftermath.

During the debate last week, I gave an answer that has gotten a lot of people talking.  I talked about putting the resources back into the communities that were destroyed so our people could have a fighting chance to get well.

Drug companies are now settling lawsuits for a tiny fraction of their overall profits from killing our people.  They need to be held accountable.

But the opioid crisis cannot be solved by money alone.  We need to let people know that if they are addicted, they won’t be referred to a prison cell but rather to treatment and counseling.

I spoke to an EMT in New Hampshire who said he sees the same people suffering from addiction over and over again.  Every time he saves someone from overdosing, they overdose again the following week.

As president, I will:

• Decriminalize small quantities of opioids so those who are addicted can be sent to treatment instead of jail
• Impose a tax on companies that sold opioids to fund treatment and rehabilitation
• Direct the FDA to regulate Big Pharma’s marketing tactics
• Destigmatize medication-based treatment for addiction, as these treatments have been shown to be effective at lowering addiction rates

Sign this petition to send a message to Big Pharma that they created this problem, and now they’re going to have to help solve it.

It goes without saying that I don’t -- and never would -- take money from Big Pharma.  But we need to go further.  We need to fundamentally change the way healthcare is administered in our country.

Our government needs to protect people from dangerous and addictive drugs.  And they need to care for people who were hurt while we looked the other way.

That’s exactly what I’ll do as president.

-Andrew