Issue Position: Addiction Treatment

Issue Position

We have an addiction epidemic that reaches its deadly tentacles into every community in our country, crossing all geographic, cultural and socioeconomic boundaries. As a Master's level mental health counselor who specialized in addictions Victoria will strongly advocate for the following:

* Reduce Deaths from Drug Overdose
* Stop the Over-Prescription of Pain Medications
* Expand Access to Treatment. Expand Access to Naloxone--an effective reversal drug used to treat overdoses from prescription opioids and heroin.
* Invest in Community Resources for Recovery
* Reduce the Stigma of Addiction. We have long known it is a chronic brain disease yet too many people associate drug/alcohol addiction to a weakness of character or a moral failure--preventing people from seeking care and leading communities to avoid providing treatment altogether.
* As a substance abuse counselor, Victoria has seen the personal and social cost of addiction and she knows that treatment works and it reduces the enormous cost to families, individuals and communities.

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