Harmful medication and violent crime are plaguing the state of Pennsylvania. On common, 14 Pennsylvanians die each day from drug overdoses, and Philadelphia is experiencing the very best homicide price within the metropolis’s historical past.
Our timeframe to repair these issues is narrowing, and we can’t afford to ship Fetterman to the Senate to unfold his failed insurance policies to the remainder of our fragile state.
I lately visited Kensington, the Philadelphia neighborhood as soon as well-known for Rocky however now often known as the East Coast’s largest open-air drug market. Folks combating habit, some with needles hanging from their our bodies, surrounded me. As a health care provider, I’ve handled individuals battling habit and seen the restoration course of. These are human beings who desperately want assist from their communities and leaders, but their Democratic leaders largely ignore them.
At a roundtable dialogue with neighborhood members in Germantown, one other Philadelphia neighborhood, I heard quite a few tales of people shedding family members to violent crime. Roundtable individuals informed me this space was as soon as a affluent and secure place to work, dwell and lift a household. Now, many residents are afraid to stroll via the streets or ship their kids to highschool.
The rising drug and violent crime disaster in Philadelphia — our nation’s capital earlier than it relocated to Washington, D.C. — would solely worsen below the coverage proposals set forth by progressive leaders like Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, my opponent for the U.S. Senate.
Fetterman has made clear his assist for Oregon’s measure 110, which decriminalized medication like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. This flawed measure didn’t create a security web to cease habit, as promised. After Measure 110, Oregon had a 41% improve in drug overdose deaths. Over 16,000 individuals in Oregon have accessed well being facilities because the measure handed, however lower than 1% of drug customers entered remedy. An analogous legislation if handed in Pennsylvania wouldn’t assist customers in Kensington; it might allow them.
Measure 110 has additionally been linked to an enormous improve in violent crime. Portland’s murders elevated by over 50% from 2020 to 2021. An analogous improve in homicides in Philadelphia would probably imply over 800 murders a 12 months within the metropolis.
Fetterman not solely helps laws like Oregon’s Measure 110, however drug legalization and decriminalization are additionally amongst his prime priorities. In an interview with The Nation in 2015, Fetterman was requested: “What are some key points you’re targeted on?” His reply: “I’m pro-legalizing marijuana, however I’m going even additional than a few of my colleagues as a result of I’m for decriminalizing throughout the board.” In 2018, Fetterman famous the subject of legalizing heroin arose when he met with occasion officers in Washington.
This need to decriminalize medication is only one aspect of Fetterman’s intensive soft-on-crime agenda. Since first taking workplace as lieutenant governor in 2019, Fetterman has at instances advocated on behalf of violent criminals, even on the expense of law-abiding residents.
Whereas main the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, Fetterman advisable the discharge of 46 criminals serving life sentences, together with a person who was convicted of first-degree homicide after killing one other man with backyard shears. Fetterman even forged the one vote to pardon a person convicted of murdering an older girl with scissors.
Whereas Fetterman has backed the concept that releasing one-third of all prisoners would “not make anybody much less secure,” a report launched by the Pennsylvania Division of Corrections on Aug. 31 exhibits that over 60% of prisoners launched from the corrections system are re-arrested or re-enter jail. Regardless of these findings, Fetterman needs to “get as many people out” of jail as potential.
Time and time once more, Fetterman has made it clear that he would prioritize criminals over the security of Pennsylvanians. The disaster ravaging susceptible communities like Kensington outcomes from ineffective drug insurance policies pushed by elected officers who care extra about caring than fixing. These insurance policies are half of a bigger failed social experiment examined on our communities that has solely seen extra homicides, elevated overdose deaths and silence from those that carried out these insurance policies.
Our timeframe to repair these issues is narrowing, and we can’t afford to ship Fetterman to the Senate to unfold his failed insurance policies to the remainder of our fragile state.
As your subsequent U.S. senator, I might be a robust advocate for offering assets and funding for remedy facilities and hiring extra remedy professionals. I can even struggle for our legislation enforcement officers who danger their lives day-after-day to make our communities safer. Lastly, I’ll proceed outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey’s work on offering reduction for victims of crime via funding already obtainable via the Crime Victims Fund.
